3 Body Problem creators want season 2 just as badly as you do, maybe even more

Everyone wants another season of 3 Body Problem on Netflix, but maybe no one wants to continue the series as badly as creators D.B. Weiss, Alexander Woo, and David Benioff. The trio has been talking up a possible season 2 since before the show even premiered! Teasing that they already had a rough outline for future seasons back in January during a special cover story for The Hollywood Reporter.

Benioff told THR he recalled back at his first Comic-Con for Game of Thrones he had been planning ahead to the momentous Red Wedding scene that would eventually unfold in the show's third season. There's something similar he and his co-creators are working toward in 3 Body Problem.

David Benioff wants to get to the 'Red Wedding' moment of 3 Body Problem

"And there’s a scene in the second season [of 3 Body Problem] that I feel is — it’s not the Judgment Day scene [in season one] — it’s one that happens in the second season … things wildly escape and there’s one scene, if we get to it, we’re golden — like when we got to the Red Wedding on Thrones," Benioff told THR.

Just like with Game of Thrones, I'm sure book fans know what scene Benioff was referring to there: the droplet attack. I think I can safely say that without spoiling much for non-book readers! But honestly, the whole of The Dark Forest is really the highlight of Liu Cixin's Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy. There is a lot to look forward to from that book specifically, and plenty from the third book in the series, Death's End, too. Some of it I don't even know how they're going to translate for television.

Luckily, the creators have already been mulling over some of the more challenging sci-fi concepts presented in the book series. Although some diehard book fans have been frustrated by the show "simplifying" concepts like the creation of the sophons, there are justifiable reasons for those decisions.

“You don’t want people to be pushing pause and hitting Wikipedia every five minutes." Weiss explained at the recent Deadline Contenders TV event.

Book readers have cited some omissions from the text, like the billiards table scene and the shooter and farmer hypothesis, as some of the things they wished had made it in. Weiss' comment explains a little of their thinking behind the removal of those moments, though I'd argue that the billiards table scene would have been helpful to explain some of the science behind the three-body problem.

To be fair, Weiss notes that Cixin explains "all this stuff to you anyway in writing." But that line of thinking suggests that the television adaptation cannot stand on its own.

Weiss seems to be suggesting you read the book to get the full scope of the science, which is a legitimate point to make but also means that the show can't just exist as its own entity. Tricky territory for a book-to-screen adaptation. You could also argue that adaptations can never exist on their own volition anyway so why not lean into them as companion pieces?

3 Body Problem creators have already started planning future seasons, they're hoping for three to four in total

Moving forward, the creators are going to have even more sophisticated concepts and "wild" scenes to interpret for the show. It's part of what drew them to the project in the first place.

Looking ahead, Benioff previously revealed to Collider that they're hoping for maybe three or four seasons to tell the full breadth of the trilogy. But they don't necessarily want a multi-season renewal like Netflix has done in the past with shows like Ginny & Georgia, and more recently, Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Weiss revealed that they "wouldn't say no" to a multi-season renewal, but they'd prefer to take things one season at a time, especially because 3 Body Problem is a "very labor-intensive show" and only gets progressively more so as the series continues (I'm sure he's thinking of those scenes in book three that involve multiple dimensions!).

He also acknowledged the fan fatigue plaguing many Netflix viewers, when a show you love gets renewed, but then takes years to produce new episodes. It's something many people have vocally complained about for years now, especially with series like Stranger Things, which has taken multiple years between seasons.

"We understand— I think, it’s hard to see eight episodes of something you like and then have it disappear for a long period of time. But it’s really kind of, the only way we can imagine doing it is one Season at a time."

Yet despite wanting to take things slowly so they can truly nail the biggest moments from books two and three, Weiss also thinks that they could begin shooting a potential second season as early as the fall of 2024 thanks to the amount of pre-planning that has gone into the show.

If renewed, 3 Body Problem season 2 could potentially begin filming as early as fall 2024

Previously, while chatting to Vulture, Weiss said they've already "done a good amount of work on the second season. At this point, the shape of it is pretty detailed in terms of character journeys and who lives, who dies, who goes where, how things function."

He echoed the sentiment of his Collider interview, noting that there are three books which indicates three seasons, but the third book is much longer than the other two and significantly more massive in scope, meaning it could stretch into four seasons. On the other hand, the show's first season already laid a lot of the groundwork for book three, so perhaps they won't need a fourth season after all.

As you can see, it makes sense why Weiss, Benioff, and Woo would rather take things one season at a time. Let's just get a season 2 renewal going to begin with, @Netflix!