Is ‘3 Body Problem’ A Limited Series? Not Quite

3 Body Problem season 1 is now streaming on Netflix. But is it a limited series, or open-ended? How much more 3 Body Problem will audiences get?

3 Body Problem is adapted from the novel series Remembrance of Earth’s Past by Cixin Liu. The books and the Netflix series tell the story of Earth’s battle with the San-Ti (or Trisolarans in the English translation of the books), an alien race that’s on its way to invade Earth. The San-Ti flee their own planet after their unstable solar system wipes out their civilization over and over again. However, the San-Ti aren’t on their way to peacefully co-exist with humans. In their view, humans are insects.

The novel series consists of three books: The Three-Body Problem, The Dark Forest, and Death’s End, with a bonus book, The Redemption of Time, written by another author. Since the core series has three books, it would stand to reason that the Netflix series will go for three seasons—but the showrunners’ plans are a little more complex than that.

How long will 3 Body Problem run?

Season 1 of 3 Body Problem ends on a cliffhanger, with new plot lines unfolding and many questions unanswered. So how much more 3 Body Problem will we get?

Although season 2 of 3 Body Problem hasn’t been greenlit yet, series creators David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, and Alexander Woo envision the series going for up to four seasons. In an interview with Collider, the trio said that since the third book in the series is so massive, it might take two seasons to adapt all of it.

However, the series has already begun adapting material from Death’s End, along with the second book in the series, The Dark Forest. Fans of the books will recognize plot points like the Wallfacer Project and Project Staircase in season 1. If the Netflix adaptation is compressing the timeline of the books, then will it necessarily make it to four seasons? It’s hard to say what exactly Benioff, Weiss, and Woo are planning.

In the meantime, season 1 of 3 Body Problem is now streaming on Netflix.

(featured image: Netflix)