3 Body Problem: Books vs. Series
3 Body Problem is Alexander Woo, D. B. Weiss and David Benioff's 2024 series, adapted from books by Liu Cixin. It stars Jovan Adepo, John Bradley, Rosalind Chao, Liam Cunningham, Eiza González, Jess Hong, Alex Sharp, Benedict Wong and Zine Tseng and ran for 1 season and 8 episodes on Netflix.
From Books Adapted
Which books each season covers
Season one already borrows from all three books
The series doesn't go one book at a time. Season one is mostly The Three-Body Problem, but it also brings in characters and storylines from The Dark Forest and Death's End.
| Season | Books used |
|---|---|
| 1 | Mostly The Three-Body Problem (book 1), with storylines from The Dark Forest (book 2) and Death's End (book 3) |
| 2* | The rest of the trilogy, shared with season 3. Netflix hasn't said exactly where the split falls. |
| 3* | The final season, ending with Death's End |
| A guide, not an exact match: shows move scenes and storylines between books and seasons. | |
* Netflix said in May 2024 that the series ends with season 3 and finishes the trilogy.
Most of The Dark Forest and Death's End is still to come, though season one has already started parts of both.
What changed from the book
The Oxford Five are new
The five friends at the center of the series aren't in the books. They're built from characters who turn up at different points across the trilogy. Wang Miao, the first book's main scientist, is split between Auggie, Jack and Jin. Saul is based on Luo Ji from The Dark Forest. Will is based on Yun Tianming, and Jin also takes on Cheng Xin's role, both from Death's End.
The creators wanted those friendships in place early, so the later books' characters wouldn't arrive as strangers.
Most of the story moves from China to Britain
In the books, the present-day story happens in China. The series moves much of it to Britain and gives the scientists a more international cast. Ye Wenjie's earlier story stays in China, including the Cultural Revolution scenes.
The creators talked their plans through with Liu Cixin before writing, and he agreed to big changes, including the setting.
The books, in order
Details
- Author
- Liu Cixin
- Year
- 2008
- Pages
- 416
- Audiobook length
- 13 hr 53 min
- Narrator
- Rosalind Chao
- Series
- Remembrance of Earth's Past, book 1
During China’s Cultural Revolution, astrophysicist Ye Wenjie becomes involved in a secret project to contact life beyond Earth. Decades later, unexplained events in the scientific community lead nanotechnology researcher Wang Miao into a strange computer game, whose unstable world conceals a connection to a threat far larger than the investigation he has joined.
Details
- Author
- Liu Cixin
- Year
- 2008
- Pages
- 528
- Audiobook length
- 20 hr 1 min
- Narrator
- Jess Hong
- Series
- Remembrance of Earth's Past, book 2
Humanity knows an alien fleet is approaching, but its preparations are watched by technology that can expose almost any plan. Four people are granted extraordinary freedom to devise defenses hidden inside their own minds, including the reluctant Luo Ji, whose selection makes him a target before he understands what he might contribute.
Details
- Author
- Liu Cixin
- Year
- 2010
- Pages
- 624
- Audiobook length
- 28 hr 51 min
- Narrator
- P. J. Ochlan
- Series
- Remembrance of Earth's Past, book 3
Cheng Xin awakens from hibernation into a future where humanity and Trisolaris appear to have reached an uneasy balance. Her connection to an old space program draws her into decisions about preserving that peace, as new technologies and competing visions of survival place the fate of both civilizations in increasingly uncertain hands.
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