Derek Tsang is set to direct Netflix’s sci-fi adaptation of the Chinese best-selling book The Three-Body Problem by writer Liu Cixin. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Oscar-nominated Hong Kong director will helm the series pilot, setting the tone for the following episodes.
Three-Body Problem (the series dropped the “The”) was revealed last year, with HBO’s Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss, and Season 2 of AMC’s The Terror showrunner Alexander Woo, acting as writers, co-creators, and executive producers. In addition, Cixin will be part of the show as a consulting producer to make sure his novel about humanity’s first contact with alien life gets appropriately adapted.
The Three-Body Problem is the first book of a trilogy, which means that should the series grab enough attention, Netflix’s adaptation has enough material to keep the show going for multiple seasons. The first book title refers to the aliens’ Earth-like world, trapped between the rotation of three different stars. The temperature variation in this alien planet is so significant that it threatens to wipe all intelligent life, giving the aliens reason to visit (and maybe conquer) Earth.
After his 2019 film Better Days, Tsang gained worldwide recognition and was nominated for Best International Feature Film at the Academy Awards. While Better Days didn’t bring an Oscar home, the movie got the highest prize at the Hong Kong Film Awards. Tsang also received critical acclaim for his directorial debut, 2016’s Soul Mate.
Three-Body Problem executive producers also include Bernadette Caulfield (Game of Thrones); Rian Johnson (Knives Out) with his partners Ram Bergman and Nena Rodrigue; Lin Qi, the late chairman of rights-holders for The Three-Body Universe Yoozoo Group, and Zhao Jilong, CEO of the rights-holder; Rosamund Pike and Robie Uniacke for Primitive Streak; and Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment.
There’s still no release window for Three-Body Problem on Netflix.