One of Netflix’s biggest shows of the year drops today: 3 Body Problem, is a big-budget, high-stakes sci-fi drama that’s been keenly anticipated. If you’ve loved shows like Constellation or have been obsessed with Dune for the past month, then 3 Body Problem should be right up your street. Set across continents and decades, it follows a group of brilliant scientists as they join forces to confront an existential threat, while one young woman’s fateful decision echoes across the universe. Here’s all to know ahead of its launch:

Written by the team behind Game of Thrones David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, it’s based on a Chinese novel of the same name by Liu Cixin, and jumps across time periods as humans on Earth discover an extra-terrestrial civilisation that fast becomes a threat.

What is 3 Body Problem about?

3 Body Problem has a pretty complex set-up, so strap in: it begins in 1960s China, with Mao’s Cultural Revolution changing the nation on a huge scale. Young Ye Wenjie, a graduate in astrophysics, sees her father brutally beaten to death in front of her, while Ye is herself branded a traitor to the nation.

Forced into prison, she ends up taking an offer to be conscripted by the military, with her background in astrophysics prized by a secretive military program interested in space and satellites. This however is a cover for the program’s true purpose: finding and making contact with alien lifeforms. At a remote radar base, she devises a way of beaming information into space and does so, keeping it a secret of her own. But this decision is one that she will come to regret and may decide the fate of humanity.

‌What else do we know?

Ye’s signal is eventually picked up by an alien civilisation years later, one which is facing total annihilation, and sees an invasion of Earth as a way out. As humans back on our planet become aware that intelligent life exists, factions form as some believe alien overlords would be better for the planet than the corruptions and habits of humans, while others take a stand against it.

A present-day group of scientists is forced to find a way to save humanity from destruction, whether from aliens or by itself. It’s certainly an ambitious and dizzying plot description, and we can’t wait to see how it’s pulled off on screen. Netflix has released a teaser clip that introduces another key plot point: a VR system called the Three Body, a VR headset that can transport you to points in the past.

‌Who’s in the cast, and is there a release date?

‌Such a big-scale series unsurprisingly features a big cast: Rosalind Chao (Mulan) plays the present-day Ye Wenjie, alongside Jovan Adepo (His Three Daughters), Benedict Wong (Doctor Strange), Eiza González (Baby Driver), John Bradley (Game of Thrones), Alex Sharp (Living) and Jonathan Pryce (The Crown). The series also counts Rian Johnson, Rosamund Pike and Brad Pitt as executive producers, and will be released on Netflix on 21st March 2024. You can watch the trailer below.

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