Netflix has officially confirmed that its ambitious sci-fi series 3 Body Problem will be back for a second season – but it isn’t calling it season two.
Confused? Allow me to explain. Yesterday (May 16) during its Upfronts 2024 presentation, Netflix finally revealed that it had renewed 3 Body Problem after a near-two month wait. The epic and abstract Netflix TV Original, which spent seven weeks on the streaming giant’s Top 10 TV series chart, even got its own big announcement video on YouTube – and Netflix’s other social media channels – to celebrate the occasion:
So far, so good. That is, however, until you start to dig into what the world’s best streaming service has actually said about its return.
You see, Netflix has been very selective with its wording of the show’s renewal. In a press release, Netflix doesn’t actually say season two is in development – instead, it simply states that “the critically acclaimed 3 Body Problem series will continue with all-new episodes to take viewers through the full journey of this epic saga”. In an article on its in-house Tudum website, Netflix also revealed that details “including the number of seasons and episodes… will be revealed at a later date”.
Now, I don’t know about you, but that’s an incredibly vague and puzzling way of saying that one of 2024’s best Netflix shows will be back for a second season. You only need to look at other shows, such as Netflix’s live-action remake of Avatar: The Last Airbender, to see why it’s such as confusing way to phrase things. Indeed, when Avatar: The Last Airbender was renewed for two more seasons, Netflix said just that – i.e. the fantasy series would return for seasons two and three. So, what on earth does the streaming titan mean when it says 3 Body Problem will only be back for “all-new episodes”?
3 Body Problem, 2 part headache
It’s difficult to determine what Netflix is planning for 3 Body Problem. As I mentioned, the puzzling nature of the aforementioned statement isn’t how it typically announces a hit show’s renewal, so it’s not a great surprise to see fans raise their eyebrows over the wording of said statement.
My view is that Netflix is simply keeping its development cards close to its chest, especially in light of its performance. Yes, 3 Body Problem performed admirably after a very slow start following its March 21 release, but there’s no denying it had a sluggish debut post-launch. Indeed, following its slow start to life on the platform, I suggested that 3 Body Problem seemed to be a galactic misfire, but that its season 2 chances were far from over. That proved to be the case, with 3 Body Problem enjoying belated success that gave its season 2 renewal hopes a rocket-fueled boost in its second and third weeks on the service.
Despite eventually topping the Netflix TV charts for three weeks, though, 3 Body Problem wasn’t the runaway success that the streamer hoped it would be. In my review of 3 Body Problem season one, I called it an “ambitious, mind-melting sci-fi show that demands your attention”, but one that “slightly trivializes its hypothetical source material through intermittent creative deviations and simplified conceptual explanations”. Based on its 79% critical and 78% audience scores on Rotten Tomatoes, it seems others found similar faults with its narrative and thematic execution. Compare that to the universally acclaimed scores handed out to the Fallout TV show, which debuted on Prime Video in early April (it holds 93% critical and 89% viewers ratings on Rotten Tomatoes), and 3 Body Problem wasn’t as popular or successful.
Take it to the End of the universe. Need another 2 seasons at leastMay 16, 2024
Okay, so where am I going with all of this? My view is that Netflix is being intentionally vague because it doesn’t know how it wants to proceed with 3 Body Problem. Sure, it’s based on Liu Cixin’s Remembrance of Earth book trilogy, so the obvious answer would be to tell 3 Body Problem‘s complete story over three seasons. However, Netflix’s decision to simply state that “all-new episodes” are in development gives it some much-needed wriggle room if it chooses not to follow that traditional three-part formula.
Netflix could opt to order more than three seasons – something that co-creator and executive producer David Benioff (per Collider) believes will be needed to tell the novel series’ full story. Unnecessarily extending the show’s shelf life, though, might result in viewers growing tired of 3 Body Problem‘s slow-moving narrative as it crawls towards its endgame. We’ve seen countless examples of TV shows – Dexter and Game of Thrones to name just two – that outstayed their welcome because network executives are convinced they need to for audience retention purposes. Dragging out 3 Body Problem‘s plot over four or five seasons would, in my opinion, be superfluous.
Alternatively, Netflix might commission a single follow-up, ask Benioff, D.B. Weiss, and Alexander Woo to remove the fat from Cixin’s literary works, and wrap up its entire narrative in a much leaner second season. For what it’s worth, I think the latter would be a huge mistake – a story as mind-boggling, character-driven, and complex as 3 Body Problem‘s needs time and space to be told. But hey, that’s just my opinion.
Netflix, then, has a two-part headache with 3 Body Problem. One, decide how much of Cixin’s narrative it wants to adapt and, two, work out how many seasons it’ll need to cover the overarching plot. Let’s hope they make a choice sooner rather than later so we know whether we’ll be invited back for more than one season.
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