Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for the Remembrance of Earth’s Past books.
The first season of3 Body Problemwas a breath of fresh air for sci-fi fans. It was very different from what fans expected, choosing to incorporate elements of all three books inLiu Cixin’sRemembrance of Earth’s Pastseries and doing it competently enough to leave us wanting more. Unfortunately, a second season stillhasn’t been confirmed by Netflix, though showrunnersDavid Benioff,D.B. Weiss, andAlexander Woohave already been working on a new seasonand planning. Until we learn what Netflix’s decision is with more seasons, there’s a lot to speculate about when it comes to how this version of3 Body Problemwill play out.There’s still a lot to see in the world of3 Body Problem, though, as the eight episodes we’ve got so far tease the future of the series in major ways.
3 Body Problem
A fateful decision made in 1960s China reverberates in the present, where a group of scientists partner with a detective to confront an existential planetary threat.
Saul Must Figure Out Ye Wenjie’s Riddle in ‘3 Body Problem’
In3 Body Problem’s season finale, “Wallfacer,” Saul Durand (Jovan Adepo) has his life turned upside down as he’s suddenly taken from London to New York and is invested as a Wallfacer in a special ceremony at the United Nations General Assembly Hall.That’s a lot for anyoneto process so suddenly, and Saul is no different.A Wallfacer’s job is to conceive a plan to deal with the San-Ti threat and keep it inside their heads until the time comes to put it in motion. A noble task, but Saul just lost his job as a scientist thanks to the sophon’s block on scientific research. Why him, then?
The answer that UN Secretary General Lilian Joseph (CCH Pounder) can offer Saul doesn’t help, as she is not sure, either. The fact is that the San-Ti see Saul as a threat and have made him the only human they are actively trying to kill. Saul stillhasn’t realized it, but this is because of his encounter with Ye Wenjie (Rosalind Chao) at Vera Ye’s (Vedette Lim) grave in Episode 7, “Only Advance.” Back then, Wenjie tells him a joke about Einstein trying to play music with God and is severely punished, a disguise for her “cosmic sociology” thesis:don’t try to contact advanced alien civilizations, because they don’t want to coexist. By the time Season 1 ends, Saul has experienced two attempts against his life but hasn’t connected the dots about Ye Wenjie’s joke.
In the novels, Saul’s counterpart is the Wallfacer Luo Ji, who has a similar meeting with Ye Wenjie and suffers similar consequences. His journey is a rollercoaster, and he watches as the other Wallfacers — who he thinks are actually qualified for the job, not him — plan, but it takes a long time for him to understand his role. He even goes into hibernation before he can figure it out, but the whole journey is the kind of thrillerthe3 Body Problemcreatorsknow how to build, considering Benioff and Weiss' experience withGame of Thrones, and Woo’s experience writing onTrue Blood. In Season 2, Saul will surely find himself way out of his element, despite being the only person who has all the tools to solve the San-Ti crisis.
Jin Chen and Thomas Wade Have To Fix the Staircase Project
Inserting elements from all three novels ofRemembrance of Earth’s Pastright in the first season of3 Body Problemmay seem hasty, butit was actuallywhat made the Netflix adaptation unique. The group of main characters, for example, each embodies aspects of characters from different novels, like Jin Cheng (Jess Hong), Will Downing (Alex Sharp), and Thomas Wade (Liam Cunningham), who are characters from the third book,Death’s End. Together, those three lead another important project in the fight against the San-ti: The Staircase Project.
Proposed by Jin Cheng after the San-Ti revealed themselves and their sophons to the world, the Staircase Project consists of sending a frozen human brain to the San-Ti invasion fleet to act as a probe. It counts on the aliens beingunable to understand how humans thinkand wanting to learn more about how we work. Thus, Will could act as a probe and even an agent for humankind against the enemy. However,the solar sail that was supposed to take Will’s brain to the San-Ti is destroyedafter one of its cables detaches after launch, meaning Will will wander in space forever… Unless someone finds him. That can’t happen unless there is someone to continue the project in the future, despite its failure.
The novels have an answer to what will happen to Will, but, in the meantime, Jin’s arc has to develop on Earth, too. With hibernation technology ready by the end of Season 1, Thomas Wade mentions to Jin that he will hibernate and keep waking up until the final battle against the San-Ti to make sure humanity’s preparations are going according to plan. The two of them have an interesting dynamic, with Jin and Clarence “Da” Shi (Benedict Wong) often being the weight thatprevents Wade from driftinginto megalomaniacal plans.Da Shi is now the head of security for Saul as a Wallfacer, so Jin will have to keep Wade grounded by herself. With her best friend and romantic interest adrift in space plus the destiny of humankind, she will have to balance all that as the plot progresses into the future. Finding a solution to fix the Staircase Project could save Will from an eternity of floating around in space.
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Auggie Is the Last Piece in the Oxford Five Puzzle, but She Doesn’t Fit Anywhere
Among the many changes in the lore of theRemembrance of Earth’s Pasttrilogy, the biggest is the Oxford Five,the group of five friends who eventually become instrumental in the fight against the San-Ti. Jack Rooney (John Bradley) and Will Downing may be out of the picture, and Saul Durand and Jin Cheng are both engaged in crucial projects with the Planetary Defence Council (PDC), but the last of the Five is off doing her own thing: Augustina “Auggie” Salazar (Eiza González). At the end of Season 1 of3 Body Problem, Auggie is back in Mexico helping small communities with her nanofiber technology.
During Season 1, Auggie also worked with Thomas Wade on the operation at the Panama Canal in Episode 5, “Judgment Day,” but grew frustrated and traumatized by the way things were carried out. The loss of life affected her the most, since she developed her research in nanotechnology tohelppeople, not kill them. Her counterpart in the novels, Wang Miao, has similar internal conflicts, but has his part finished in the first novel,The Three-Body Problem, and is only briefly mentioned in the following two installments.So Auggie is her own character from now on, walking a completely original path. While Wang Miao’s work is still part of humanity’s efforts in the struggle against the San-Ti, Auggie planned everything to use her research for her benefit.
While Auggie’s story in further seasons of3 Body Problemis not the only one that’s completely original,Tatiana Haas(Marlo Kelly) is also a great addition to the lore. However, Auggie is still bound by her friendship with Jin Cheng and her complicated on-and-off romantic relationship with Saul Durand. Her going to Mexico is a nice turn for the character, but it’s certainly not the end of her journey, as she is part of the Oxford Five, andthey are the focal point of3 Body Problem, the lens through which the story is told. Her opposition to Wade is bound to shake her relationship with Jin and Saul. At the same time, her nanofiber technology can still be a game changer for humanity. We just need to actually get a Season 2 for all that to come to fruition, so fingers crossed.
3 Body Problemis available to stream on Netflix in the U.S.
