“3 Body Problem,” the highly anticipated sci-fi series from “Game of Thrones” executive producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, and Alexander Woo (“The Terror: Infamy,” “True Blood”), will debut its first eight episodes on March 21, 2024, Netflix announced on Friday as part of its Geeked Week promotional campaign. The news was accompanied by the first extended look at a scene from the show, featuring stars John Bradley (“Game of Thrones”), Jess Hong (“The Brokenwood Mysteries”) and Sea Shimooka (“Arrow”), as well as the first poster.
The series is based on the best-selling book series “The Three Body Problem” by Cixin Liu, and tells a sprawling, multi-generational story that spans the cosmos. Per the official Netflix logline, “A young woman’s fateful decision in 1960s China reverberates across space and time into the present day. When the laws of nature inexplicably unravel before their eyes, a close-knit group of brilliant scientists join forces with an unflinching detective to confront the greatest threat in humanity’s history.”
In the clip, Jin Cheng (Hong) shows Jack Rooney (Bradley) a metal device that appears to be a virtual reality helmet, but as Jack notices, “There’s no screen. There’s no headphone jack. There’s not even a fucking charging port.” He wonders if it could be a beta tester, but Jin says he doesn’t understand the power of the helmet.
“This was indistinguishable from reality,” she says.
So Jack puts the helmet on, and is instantly transported to a barren desert wasteland, with an ancient looking pyramid in the distance. He’s wearing what appears to be a period Chinese garment, and he’s overwhelmed by the tactile verisimilitude of his experience.
Suddenly, a woman’s voice (Shimooka) echoes behind him: “You were not invited,” she says, before slicing her sword and ending the scene.
Along with Bradley, Hong and Shimooka, “3 Body Problem” costars Benedict Wong, Eiza González, Jovan Adepo, Alex Sharp, Saamer Usmani, Liam Cunningham, Rosalind Chao, Jonathan Pryce, Marlo Kelly, Ben Schnetzer and Zine Tseng.
Showrunners Benioff, Weiss and Woo wrote the series and and are executive producing with Bernadette Caulfield, Rian Johnson, Ram Bergman, Nena Rodrigue, Brad Pitt, Jeremy Kleiner, Dede Gardner, Rosamund Pike, Robie Uniacke, Lin Qi, Zhao Jilong, Fenfen Xu and Xiasong Gao.
