New Netflix sci-fi series 3 Body Problem is racing up the streamer's charts. Per FlixPatrol, the show is currently number two in the US and the UK after its first weekend on the platform (it was released on March 21). The series has also reached the number one spot around the world, including in Australia, Canada, Brazil, New Zealand, South Africa, and Thailand.
Based on the novel The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin, the series was adapted by Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss and True Blood writer Alexander Woo. It follows a group of scientists who must make sense of a world rapidly falling apart at the seams due to one single decision made 60 years earlier in post-Cultural Revolution China. The cast includes Game of Thrones alum John Bradley, Liam Cunningham, and Jonathan Pryce, as well as Benedict Wong and Eiza González.
The show currently has a critics' score of 76% on Rotten Tomatoes. Our own review gave 3 Body Problem two and a half stars, noting that the show doesn't find its feet until the "final few episodes as it fully commits to the sci-fi elements of the story, moving away from interpersonal (and, often, inconsequential) character drama – it's just a shame it takes so long to get there."
However, Vulture writes that the series is "well paced, generally compelling, and completely committed to being the most TV version of itself it can possibly be. If only more Netflix dramas did the same."
TIME Magazine agrees, saying "Benioff, Weiss, and Woo have been remarkably successful at transforming Liu’s work into a gripping sci-fi thriller, without either dumbing it down or boring viewers with hours’ worth of whiteboard lectures." According to IndieWire, though, "3 Body Problem offers little personal intrigue to balance its increasingly unimpressive attempts at spectacle."
The showrunners have hopes for a second season, too – and beyond. "Well, there’s three novels in the trilogy," Woo told the Inside Total Film podcast. "The novels get longer and longer so I wouldn't say it maps out exactly to three. We have some really strong ideas about what to do in a season two, and then it’s a little hazier down the line. But we want to get to the end, we want to get to the end of the trilogy, and whether that's three or four, you know, or some other number."
All episodes of 3 Body Problem are streaming now on Netflix. For more on the show, check out our guides to the 3 Body Problem ending explained and what could happen in a potential season 2 based on the books.
