SPOILER ALERT: This article and video contain spoilers about the 1st season.
“I’m humbled,” declares director Minkie Spiro about the success of the hit Netflix sci-fi drama “3 Body Problem,” which was co-created by multiple Emmy-winning “Game of Thrones” duo David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, who serve as co-creators and producers with writer/producer Alexander Woo (“True Blood”). For our recent webchat she adds, “You never know when you’re making a show if it’s going to resonate. I’m thrilled because it is such a dense piece of I.P. And I take my hat off to David, Dan and Alex for having the bravery to be willing to take on such a such an important piece of sci-fi material that is so beloved.” Watch our exclusive video interview above.
SEE Exclusive Video Interview: Jess Hong (‘3 Body Problem’)
“3 Body Problem” is based on the Hugo Award-winning novel “The Three-Body Problem” by Chinese author Liu Cixin, the first in Liu’s “Remembrance of Earth’s Past” trilogy. Benioff, Weiss and Woo co-wrote the pilot together, titled “Countdown,” which takes place in both 1960s China and modern-day England, where astrophysicists try to uncover and expose what is ultimately revealed as an existential threat to humanity from a distant and more advanced alien civilization known as the San-ti. Rosalind Chao and Zine Tseng star as the older and younger version of accomplished Chinese astrophysicist Ye Wenjie alongside co-stars Jess Hong, Benedict Wong, Jovan Adepo, Eiza Gonzalez, Alex Sharp, Sea Shimooka, Marlo Kelly and “Game of Thrones” alums Jonathan Pryce, John Bradley and Liam Cunningham.
Spiro directed three episodes of the show’s freshman season (episodes four, five and six), and is submitting the fifth episode (“Judgment Day”) for Emmy consideration, which was written by show co-creators Benioff and Weiss. The pivotal action-packed instalment sees chief planetary defense strategist Thomas Wade (Cunningham) enlist Dr. Auggie Salazar (Gonzalez) and a Royal Navy team to ambush the fortress-like Judgment Day ship that is scheduled to cruise through the Panama Canal in order to retrieve enemy intel. The team deploy Auggie’s (literally) cutting-edge nanofiber technology to horizontally slice through the ship, killing everyone aboard, including Mike Evans (Pryce), the wealthy leader of the shady Earth-Trisolaris Organization. Their mission leads to Wade and Dr. Jin Cheng (Hong) discovering the San-Ti’s true mission; to cripple Earth’s scientific advancement, preventing humans from technologically surpassing them by the time of their arrival in a few centuries’ time. Shortly after, all electronic devices around the world display the message “YOU ARE BUGS,” with the San-Ti’s advanced proton-sized super-computer “sophon” enveloping the Earth, revealing the existence and power of the San-Ti to the world.
Fans of the Benioff and Weiss’ previous genre hit “Game of Thrones” know all too well that every season typically features that one episode that features the most spectacular and revealing plot twists (and often a lot of bloodshed). Spiro acknowledges that the creative team were well aware of the inevitably high expectations that fans would have for the episode, which she knew from very early on, after reading a detailed outline of the series before even signing on to the project. “When I finished it I was like, ‘I’m in, but I’m only in if I get to do the middle block,’ which is very rare for me, because I normally strive to do pilots or an entire series,” she admits. “There was something incredibly captivating and awe inspiring. You couldn’t not want to do that moment that we all talk about with the ship. I was very lucky to be gifted this document, and then also the privilege of getting to work with Benioff, Weiss and Woo was just too irresistible.”
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