LOS ANGELES – One of the most anticipated science-fiction series of 2024, 3 Body Problem is the first television show from American writer-producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss since Game Of Thrones (2011 to 2019).

And like the fantasy hit, their latest offering is based on a beloved book series: the Remembrance Of Earth’s Past trilogy (2006 to 2010) by acclaimed Chinese science-fiction author Liu Cixin, which explores humanity’s encounters with an advanced alien civilisation.

Set primarily in China, the first book, The Three-Body Problem, was the first Asian winner of the prestigious Hugo Award for best science fiction or fantasy novel.

But Benioff, Weiss and co-creator Alexander Woo made their version more international by setting much of the action in Britain while also retaining many Chinese elements and characters.

The trio chatted with The Straits Times over Zoom ahead of the March 21 premiere of the Netflix series.

It begins, as Liu’s first book does, in 1960s China, with a scientist named Ye Wenjie, played at different ages by actresses Zine Tseng and Rosalind Chao.

Ye makes a history-altering discovery, but then the story moves to the present day and a group of friends in Britain – who met studying physics at Oxford – and two of them get drawn into a mysterious virtual-reality game.

The show also stars John Bradley, Jonathan Pryce and Liam Cunningham, all actors on Game Of Thrones. 

Weiss, 52, explains why he and his co-creators chose to set most of the eight-episode show in Britain, and with a diverse cast of characters.

“Some of the thinking was legal and contractual – we had the rights to do the English-language adaptation, so that dictated a fair amount,” he says.

“But even if we hadn’t been faced with that, in adapting it for Netflix, which is a very global platform, we would have done something very similar.

“Because the world is faced with a threat and we felt it needed to look like the world as much as possible on a character level.”

Two of the main characters are of Chinese descent: Oxford-educated physicist Jin Cheng (Jess Hong), who is a Chinese New Zealander, and Chinese-British intelligence officer Da Shi (Benedict Wong).

Asked if this is a nod to the source material, Woo, who is Chinese American, says: “We wanted to represent the global population as much as possible, and a large part of the world is Chinese.”

“With Ye’s story (in China), we stayed very true to the source material,” adds Woo, who was a writer on the vampire drama True Blood (2008 to 2014).

But with both Jin Cheng and Da Shi, “it felt like they needed to be represented by Chinese actors”, he says, noting that other characters come from places such as Mexico and the United States.

It also made sense to have one of the scientists be Chinese, adds Weiss.

“Because in terms of basic scientific research, China is one of the two or three most important countries on earth,” he notes.

But does a TV show about aliens land differently in a world where more people than ever are convinced they are real?

The creators are asked what they think of the US congressional hearings in 2023, where witnesses claimed that American government agencies have been hiding information about unidentified flying objects (UFOs).

Benioff, 53, says: “I wouldn’t say it shaped the creation of this series, but whether or not it shapes the perception of the series is interesting.”

He reveals that the show’s creators have talked to government officials about this.

“We’ve had conversations that were pretty startling in terms of what fighter pilots have seen over the ocean. It definitely gives you pause.

“And I have no doubt that aliens exist,” Benioff adds. “But I’m not sure why they would need to be floating around (as UFOs) if they were advanced enough to come here.”

The showrunners do get a tad nervous whenever they see anything UFO-related in the news, though.

Benioff admits: “Every time a new story comes up, I almost get scared, like, ‘We’re going to realise that there actually are aliens before the show comes out.’”

“We just don’t want to get scooped by actual aliens,” adds Weiss.

• 3 Body Problem premieres on Netflix on March 21.