The ‘3 Body Problem’ Season 2, 3 And 4 Plans Are Explained, But Not Really

At Netflix Upfronts, it was revealed that 3 Body Problem was not just renewed but it would “finish” its story, indicating perhaps more than just a second season was coming. It was very strange, as the term “season 2” was not thrown around at all, and with two more full books to adapt, the ability to finish the story seemed like Netflix just committed a massive amount of time and money to the project without fully explaining what that meant.

Now, showrunners David Benioff, Dan Weiss and Alexander Woo are trying to elaborate on the “additional episodes” that were promised for the show, via THR:

“We knew going into this how many hours we need to tell the rest of the story because we’ve got a roadmap through to the end,” Weiss said. “And we have what we need to get to the end as intended from when we started.”

“By the time we finish with the show, it will be seven years we’ve devoted to it,” Benioff added. “We’re now at a place where we get to tell the rest of the story, and, yes, we have enough time to tell the rest of the story the way we want to and that’s immensely gratifying.”

It is very weird that they are speaking in “hours” rather than seasons, as previously, they specifically said they thought they would need four seasons to finish the story, with likely two for the final book because of its scope. If that would match season 1, that’s 24 more episodes over three more seasons.

But the timeline here is screwy. They say they are devoting “seven years” to the project but they spent four years getting season 1 ready and out in the first place. So in an age when there is usually 1.5-2 years between seasons of streaming shows, we’re getting three more seasons out in three more years? No way.

The most likely answer here seems like maybe they are either shooting one, longer season 2 or shooting season 2 and 3 back-to-back. But I don’t see any possible way there’s a timeline that includes a fourth season, nor something that would indicate Netflix is ready to sign up for 24 more episodes that would likely bring the cost of the project up to half a billion dollars. Again, 3 Body Problem was viewed well, but not crazily well, so this is a huge investment for an unknown longer term return.

This is all just very strange, as this really does not happen with shows on Netflix. I think Weiss and Benioff are getting special consideration with their pricey overall deal with Netflix, but even though they’re saying they can “finish,” I doubt they’re getting the full four seasons they wanted. But hey, this may be good enough.

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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.