‘3 Body Problem’ Creators Clarify Netflix’s Mysterious Season 2 Renewal Plan

Sea Shimooka in ‘3 Body Problem.’

Netflix

One of the biggest 3 Body Problem mysteries since the show ended has been: What did Netflix‘s renewal announcement mean, exactly?

During the streamer’s upfront presentation last week, Netflix promised “additional episodes” of the acclaimed sci-fi drama to “finish the story.”

Of course, “additional episodes” could mean anything from two episodes to five seasons and, naturally, many fans worried that the ultimate answer would be too close to the former for comfort.

But showrunners David Benioff, Dan Weiss and Alexander Woo assure things are going to be just fine (for the show, at least, if not for their ensemble drama’s characters facing an alien invasion). While the trio didn’t reveal the exact number of episodes in their new deal, they emphasized it was for “seasons” — plural — and that the number of hours aligns with their original plan to adapt author Liu Cixin’s two remaining novels in his Hugo-winning trilogy.

“We knew going into this how many hours we need to tell the rest of the story because we’ve got a roadmap through to the end,” Weiss told The Hollywood Reporter. “And we have what we need to get to the end as intended from when we started.”

“By the time we finish with the show, it will be seven years we’ve devoted to it,” Benioff added. “We’re now at a place where we get to tell the rest of the story, and, yes, we have enough time to tell the rest of the story the way we want to and that’s immensely gratifying.”

The showrunners are now writing the next season of 3 Body Problem. They spent four years working on the first season, and noted they plan to work on the remaining episodes for the next three years (so perhaps they will end up making two more seasons shot back-to-back, given this timeline, but that’s purely speculative).

The first eight-episode season of 3 Body Problem topped Netflix’s TV chart for three weeks and spent seven weeks in Netflix’s global Top 10. The show’s Rotten Tomatoes critic and audience scores gradually ended up at 80 percent and 78 percent, respectively.

Benioff previously told The Hollywood Reporter for a cover story that the second season of 3 Body Problem would be even better than the first: “Liu Cixin’s created this indelible trilogy and the books just get better for me. The second book is far better than the first, and the third book just completely blew my mind. The story just gets more and more ambitious as it goes, and it takes a huge leap in book two. So I feel like if we survive to the second season, we’re going to be in a good place.”