A producer on a Netflix adaptation of 'The Three-Body Problem' in China was poisoned by another executive, according to reports.
Netflix
An executive producer on a Netflix adaptation in China was reportedly poisoned by another exec involved with the production.
Lin Qi, chair and CEO of Yoozoo, which is producing "The Three-Body Problem" book trilogy as a series for Netflix, reportedly is recovering in a Shanghai hospital.
He may have been poisoned by the CEO of a Yoozoo subsidiary that controls the "Three-Body" intellectual property, according to Variety and The Hollywood Reporter.
A Shanghai police statement posted on Weibo on Wednesday read: "At 5pm on Dec 17, 2020, the police received a call from a hospital regarding a patient surnamed Lin. During the patient's treatment, the hospital said it had determined that the patient had been poisoned. Following the call, the police began an investigation," according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Three-Body Problem CEO Xu Yao was arrested, according to reports.
Per Deadline, a police statement said: "After investigation, police said that suspicions fell on a 39-year-old man surnamed Xu, one of Lin's colleagues. Xu has been detained, and an investigation is ongoing."
Netflix's rights for "Three-Body" came from Yoozoo, which is led by Lin, and its subsidiary, Three-Body Universe, which is led by Xu, according to Variety. The "Three-Body" book series has been likened to "Game of Thrones." Netflix brought aboard "Game" showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss to adapt the books for English-language audiences.
Yoozoo execs have been fighting about the production, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The spat may have led to Lin being served poisoned tea, Variety reported.
In a statement published by Variety, Yoozoo said: "Although the company's management has recovered from the emergency situation last week and resumed normal operations, some friends are still uneasy and members of the public are curious."
Written by Liu Cixin, the books in the "Three-Body" trilogy were sci-fi bestsellers in China. The first was published in 2008.
They're about humankind's first contact with aliens, according to Peter Friedlander, VP of original series at Netflix.
"Every person involved not only shares a passion and high esteem for the books, but also the creative vision and ambition to help bring this remarkable story to life for audiences around the world," Friedlander wrote in a September blogpost.
The book won the Hugo Award for best sci-fi novel in 2015, when it was first published in English.
Facebook'S CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, recommended "The Three-Body Problem" in 2015, saying the book would be "a fun break from all the economics and social science books I've read recently."
