Season 1 of 3 Body Problemnow on Netflix, does it stop at the end of volume 1 of Liu Cixin’s books?
Netflix’s new science fiction series, The 3-Body Problem, is adapted from the Chinese literary saga of the same name by Liu Cixin. The result is a perfect adaptation. If the creators of Game Of Thronesaccompanied by Alexander Woo, take many narrative liberties, the common thread and themes however remain the same.
But readers of the books — as well as those who are just finishing the series — may wonder at what point in the literary saga season 1 ends.
Answer without spoilers
Volumes 2 and 3 are integrated into season 1 of 3 Body Problem
Season 1 of 3 Body Problem doesn’t just adapt the first book. Quite quickly, and in particular from episodes 5 and 6, we see elements appear at the beginning of volume 2, The Dark Forest. Relationships and revelations that trigger volume 3, Immortal Deathalso appear at the very end of the season.
The adaptation modified characters from the books, but also reconfigured the narrative construction. If the series follows the major events of the literary saga, many plot elements are revealed earlier. And for good reason: volumes 2 and 3 make significant time jumps, with a few back and forths. By following the books exactly, it would have been difficult to keep the same cast while moving forward with the narrative twists. The series aims to be very rhythmic and chronological, taking place in a single era for the moment.
What parts of books 2 and 3 are included in season 1 of the Netflix series? We will now go into some details, with, in fact, spoilers.
Answer with SPOILERS
Warning, the following contains spoilers.
The Netflix series already includes the Colmateurs
At the end of season 1, we see the appearance of a special United Nations program: the Collmators. This project designates three people (four in the book) who must develop a defense plan, but known exclusively to them alone, so that the sophons cannot know anything about it. This plot is not addressed in volume 1: it is located in volume 2, The Dark Forest.
At the end of season 1, we also find the Staircase project, where Will’s head is sent into space as his relationship begins to move forward with Jin. In the books, they are Xin and Yun. It is normally only in volume 3, The Immortal Death, that Xin buys a star from Jin. Likewise, season 1 ends on the failed trajectory of the Escalier project, which is found at the beginning of volume 3.
In reality, there is even a small piece of Immortal Death even earlier. Indeed, we are not supposed to know that Vera (Yang Dong in the books), Ye Wenjie’s daughter, is aware that her mother is the first human to have contacted the San-Ti (Trisolarians) before… volume 3. The suicide takes place at the beginning of volume 1, but the context of the gesture is explained much later.
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