Netflix is making a series based on ‘The Three-Body Problem’

Netflix just announced its plans to turn Cixin Liu's Three-Body Problem" trilogy into an original science fiction series.

The show will be executive produced and written by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss (the Game of Thrones" showrunners signed a multi-year deal with Netflix last year that is reportedly worth more than $200 million), along with Alexander Woo, who previously served as showrunner for The Terror: Infamy."

The Last Jedi" director Rian Johnson and his producing partner Ram Bergman are on-board as executive producers (Benioff and Weiss spent some time working on a since-abandoned Star Wars trilogy), while Liu and his American translator Ken Liu (no relation) will serve as consulting producers.

I have the greatest respect for and faith in the creative team adapting The Three-Body Problem for television audiences," said Cixin Liu in a statement. I set out to tell a story that transcends time and the confines of nations, cultures and races; one that compels us to consider the fate of humankind as a whole. It is a great honor as an author to see this unique sci-fi concept travel and gain fandom across the globe and I am excited for new and existing fans all over the world to discover the story on Netflix."

First serialized in China in 2006, The Three-Body Problem" and its sequels The Dark Forest" and Death's End" (the whole series is also known as Remembrance of Earth's Past") tells the story humanity's encounter with a mysterious alien race known as the Trisolarans. After its American publication in 2014, The Three-Body Problem" was the first Asian novel to win science fiction's Hugo Award and it attracted high-profile fans including President Barack Obama. The series has sold at least 8 million copies worldwide.

The trilogy is distinguished by its wildly inventive plotting, its detailed scientific extrapolation and its broad perspective, ultimately covering a vast swath of human history. I'd also argue that The Dark Forest" includes the most spectacular space battle ever committed to print.

Liu Cixin's trilogy is the most ambitious science-fiction series we've read, taking readers on a journey from the 1960s until the end of time, from life on our pale blue dot to the distant fringes of the universe," Benioff and Weiss said in a statement. We look forward to spending the next years of our lives bringing this to life for audiences around the world."

Meanwhile, a cinematic adaptation of Liu's novel The Wandering Earth" was released last year and became one of China's highest-grossing films of all time.

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