Netflix’s upcoming show 3 Body Problem has been steeped in controversy, with the streamer even facing calls from US senators to pull the project.
An executive once involved in the TV adaptation of the Chinese science fiction book was also accused of murdering his professional rival out of jealousy over the series.
After it was announced Netflix was making 3 Body Problem, which examines humanity’s first contact with an alien civilisation, five Republican senators demanded the streamer’s boss Ted Sarandos rethink the decision.
In a letter, the lawmakers claimed that the global platform would be ‘normalising’ China‘s mass internment of Uyghur Muslims by greenlighting the project due to the novel’s author Liu Cixin’s views.
Liu had previously endorsed China’s policy of imprisoning Uygher Muslims in a The New Yorker interview in 2019, saying: ‘Would you rather that they be hacking away at bodies at train stations and schools in terrorist attacks?
‘If anything, the government is helping their economy and trying to lift them out of poverty.’
Dean Garfield, Netflix’s VP of global public policy, responded to the senators in a 2020 letter shared with Deadline, stating that Liu’s comments ‘are not reflective of the views of Netflix or of the show’s creators, nor are they part of the plot or themes of the show.’
Garfield also insisted that Netflix was ‘absolutely’ against the Chinese government’s detention of Uygher Muslims and other minority groups.
China’s Government has always insisted that it is running re-education camps to root out terrorism and that the evidence of discriminatory detention are part of a western smear campaign against the country’s reputation.
However, in 2022, the UN said the detention may amount to crimes against humanity due to accusations of genocide, torture, sexual violence and other horrendous violations.
Outlining Netflix’s decision to continue with 3 Body Problem, Garfield also said that Liu ‘is a Chinese citizen living in China – he is the author of the books, not the creator of this Netflix series.’
That wasn’t the only controversy surrounding the project in 2020.
That year, Lin Qi, a Chinese TV and film producer, and chief executive of YooZoo who was slated to work on the Netflix adaptation as an executive producer, was killed.
According to Shanghai police, Lin, who was aged 39 when he died, was poisoned.
They also named one of Lin’s colleagues as the main suspect.
According to Deadline, the suspect ‘carefully planned’ Lin’s murder as he wanted to eliminate a professional rival and was reportedly jealous of his success.
This feeling was exacerbated when Lin was unveiled as 3 Body Problem’s executive producer,the publication claims.
Lin reportedly died after consuming a pill containing a cocktail of poisons that had been cooked up by the suspect, which he had believed was a probiotic.
It was claimed in local media the suspect was tried for Lin’s murder in October.
Netflix’s synopsis of 3 Body Problem reads: ‘A young woman’s fateful decision in 1960s China reverberates across space and time into the present day.
‘When the laws of nature inexplicably unravel before their eyes, a close-knit group of brilliant scientists join forces with an unorthodox detective to confront the greatest threat in humanity’s history.’
On Reddit, people said they were intrigued to watch 3 Body Problem because the ‘reviews are all over the place,’ according to user ScribblingOff87.
Lenny_Ray also shared skepticism over the adaptation, writing: ‘I cannot see this being a successful adaptation. The book is so much bigger than its story, even though the story itself is a really good one. Maybe I’m dumb, but I just don’t see how they could do it justice.’
However, i_wantcookies disagreed and said: ‘Looking forward to this. There’s also a Chinese adaption (can be found on YT) which I liked a lot so I wonder how this will compare.’
3 Body Problem stars Jovan Adepo, John Bradley, Rosalind Chao, Liam Cunningham, Eiza González, Jess Hong, Marlo Kelly, Alex Sharp, Sea Shimooka, Zine Tseng, Saamer Usmani, Benedict Wong and Jonathan Pryce.
It was created, executive produced, and written by Game of Thrones’ David Benioff and DB Weiss, as well as Alexander Woo.
Metro.co.uk has contacted Netflix and Yoozoo for comment.
3 Body Problem is coming to Netflix on March 21.
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