The sci-fi book adaptation “3 Body Problem” was supposed to start on Netflix in 2023 but was delayed. It happened they waited for just a single scene to be completed!
Five pages of script, only five minutes duration – yet the filming of a very special scene without major effects ensured that the Netflix series “3 Body Problem” was released much later than planned. It was released in March 2024 instead of summer 2023! And the fact that they waited so long for this one scene shows. The showrunners David Benioff, D.B. Weiss and Alexander Woo really didn’t make any compromises.
The novel adaptation “3 Body Problem” was already filmed and ready for publication in mid-2023. But the showrunners wanted to make everything perfect. They knew that the sci-fi series is not just about an alien invasion. It also has complex scientific and philosophical topics and theories. So everything has to be right for the audience to follow the events. A good character drawing is almost more important than any special effect in the 20 million dollar episodes.
So important that the scene could not be missing!
So Benioff, Weiss and Woo wrote a simple bar scene for the series opener. The characters only talk in the scene. But precisely because of that a lot is revealed in that scene. The problem was that immediately afterwards, the writer strike started in Hollywood. So the scene could not be filmed. Instead of releasing the finished series without this scene, “3 Body Problem” was held back until these few minutes could be added after the end of the strike.
In the scene in episode 1, Auggie (Eiza González) and Jin (Jess Hong) have a drink in a bar. As they talk about their careers, a phone call from Saul (Jovan Adepo) gives us a brief insight into the (romantic) constellations of their circle of friends, their connection to Vera (Vedette Lim), who just took her own life, is illuminated – and Auggie’s countdown begins. All this in five minutes, which serve as the audience’s first contact with the Oxford Five, the later main characters of season 1. 3 Body Problem was delayed just because of this one scene.
Netflix was patient
“We wrote this scene the day before the strike began,” D.B. Weiss told The Hollywood Reporter. “It was literally five pages, but we really thought the scene was worth filming. Netflix has been great in this regard. It would have been easy for them to say, ‘You’ve finished a show that’s ready to be released, now don’t hold it back [because of a five-minute scene] about two people in a bar.’ The streaming service has shown true strength when it agreed to wait months for this one scene.
Was it worth it? That’s up to you. All eight episodes of the first season of “3 Body Problem” based on the “Trisolaris” books* by Liu Cixin are available on Netflix. Whether the sci-fi series will get a second season will become clear in the next few weeks.
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