The Stephen King-approved sci-fi that has been adapted five times in ten years
Few authors know more about being adapted regularly than Stephen King, and while his back catalogue tends to throw up a new movie or TV series what feels like at least once every year, none of his works have been quite as heavily repurposed as a sci-fi novel that’s on its way to a fifth adaptation in a decade.
There’s definitely such a thing as too many adaptations, but the same story being brought to the screen five times in ten years is a completely different beast to the revolving door of remakes, reboots, reinventions, reinvigorations, and overhauls that have turned certain texts into a never-ending fountain of inspiration.
Then again, when Liu Cixin’s 2008 book The Three-Body Problem struck such a nerve that a producer secured the rights and established an entire production company for the sole purpose of mining the story for all that it was worth, it probably shouldn’t come as a surprise. That being said, retelling the same ambitious and existential narrative across so many different projects in such a short space of time could be the real barometer for just how quickly familiarity can breed contempt.
Funnily enough, the first didn’t even begin as an official adaptation, and was originally made as a passion project combining the two great loves of creator Li Zhenyi. However, after its first season gained plenty of attention, the second and third runs of The Three-Body Problem in Minecraft were bestowed official status by the rights-holders and increased its production values as a result.
Director Zhang Fanfan called action on a live-action blockbuster starring Feng Shaofeng and Zhang Jingchu that was eying a 2017 theatrical release in China, but due to the dissatisfaction with the footage captured, production house Youzu Pictures simply decided that instead of carrying on making a bad movie, the smartest and most fiscally responsible decision was simply to pull the plug altogether.
Not to be deterred, the local series Three-Body premiered in January 2023, and it earned high praise from King. “The Chinese version is harder [sci-fi],” he explained of his initial watch-through. “But the implications of its later episodes are terrifying, Lovecraftian: ‘The lifeless noise of the universe.'”
14 months later and Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss’ 3 Body Problem premiered on Netflix, and was ultimately renewed for second and third seasons. It may have been made on the other side of the world, but King was equally enthused by an “extraordinary sci-fi series” that he called “chilling and awe-inspiring.”
Under normal circumstances, two TV shows based on the very same thing, released a little over a year apart, would be enough, but cinema regularly laughs in the face of such things as logic and common sense. Instead, the legendary Zhang Yimou will be hoping the second time marks the charm after he was announced to be helming a film based on The Three-Body Problem in June 2024, one that hopefully gets further along than its predecessor and actually makes it to the screen this time.
