3 Body Problem: 7 major changes from the book in Netflix’s hit series

After a brief hiatus, Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D B Weiss have returned with another TV adaptation of an iconic series of novels. The Netflix Original series, 3 Body Problem, is an adaptation of Chinese author Liu Cixin’s Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy of novels – The Three-Body Problem, The Dark Forest, and Death’s End. The series has become one of the biggest hits of the year and there is a strong possibility of Netflix greenlighting a second season for the ambitious project. While books have certainly earned a considerable fan following, a live-action adaptation posed a significant challenge. The showrunners took significant liberties from the source material for this page to screen adaptation. For today’s List Hai Toh Hit podcast, we take a look at some of the major changes from the books in the new TV series.

The London setting

As the story is written by the Chinese author Liu Cixin, the central premise and the vast majority of its characters in the novels are from China. However, the creators of the show have opted for a multicultural cast and setting. While the pilot episode is primarily set in China following the events of the 1966 Revolution and revolves around Ye Wenjie, the show quickly shifts its timeline to the present day set in London. In addition to the change in setting, the characters have also been changed to people from different parts of the globe.

San-Ti and the Trisolaris organisation

The extraterrestrial beings who plan to invade Earth are referred to as the San-Ti and the organisation that worships the San-Ti is called the Earth-Trisolaris Organization or the ETO. However, in the books, they are not a cult-like organisation with a singular mission under the leadership of Mike Evans. In Liu Cixin’s novels, there are three factions within the ETO: the Adventists who foresee Earth's demise, the Survivors, who fight for survival at any cost, and the Redemptionists, who worship the Trisolarans.

The San-Ti preferred co-op multiplayer gaming

One of the significant plot devices in the story is the highly futuristic VR gaming headset created by the San-Ti. These headsets and the game inside them are designed to explain to the players about the alien race’s three-body star system and the chaotic eras.  In the novels, these headsets are created for a single player to use one at a time. However, the series has introduced a multiplayer co-op feature that allows John Bradley’s Jack Rooney and Jess Hong’s Jin Cheng to enter the game together in their attempts to solve the three-body problem.

Minimal exposition of the San-Ti’s motives

Liu Cixin’s novels offer a detailed perspective of the San-Ti’s motivations and their decision to invade Earth. However, in the series, the details regarding the San-Ti are kept ambiguous for the most part. While there is a brief explanation offered towards the end of season one, it pales in comparison with the detailed information in the novels.

The series is an amalgamation of three books

Despite the series being titled 3 Body Problem, directly taken from the first book titled The Three-Body Problem, season one has taken elements from all three novels from Liu Cixin’s Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy of novels – The Three-Body Problem, The Dark Forest, and Death’s End. A similar approach was taken by 3 Body Problem showrunners David Benioff and D B Weiss for Game of Thrones. The hit HBO series is an adaptation of George R R Martin’s hit series of novels collectively called A Song of Ice and Fire, and the TV show derived its name from the first book A Game of Thrones.

Reworked characters

The showrunners and writers have taken significant liberties in how they have adapted the characters from Liu Cixin’s novels. In the series, the narrative primarily focuses on the “Oxford Five’ – the five physicists who are vital to the overarching narrative surrounding the three-body problem. However, these characters are significantly different in gender and ethnicity in the novels.

More violence in the TV series

The novels focus more on the existential crisis than the violence involved in setting the stage of an alien invasion 400 years in the future. The TV show showcases explicit depiction of violence and gore to add another layer of visual storytelling to the narrative. In fact, the show did not shy away from killing off several characters in brutal fashion over the course of eight episodes.

Well that's all for this episode,  see you in the next. This is your host Nikhil signing out.

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• Written by Ryan Gomez

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