Inside the Bizarre Murder Plot Surrounding Producer of Netflix's “3 Body Problem”

Lin Qi, a Chinese billionaire involved in the new Netflix series 3 Body Problem, was fatally poisoned in 2020

• Lin Qi, a Chinese billionaire formerly involved in the new Netflix series 3 Body Problem, was fatally poisoned

• Xu Yao, an executive at the gaming company founded by Qi, was sentenced to death after he was convicted of murder

• Chinese media reports that Yao was inspired by the show Breaking Bad

A Chinese court sentenced a man to death for the 2020 murder of a billionaire who is credited as a producer on the new Netflix series 3 Body Problem. 

Gaming executive Xu Yao was convicted of murder after he poisoned Lin Qi following a dispute over the company Yoozoo Games, which Qi founded, the Shanghai First Intermediate People’s Court said, according to reports from the Associated Press, The New York Times and CNN.

Qi had worked to adapt hit Chinese sci-fi novel The Three-Body Problem to the screen, the outlets reported. The Netflix adaptation, co-created by Game of Thrones show runners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, debuted on the streaming service in March. Qi was credited as an executive producer, according to IMDb.

The science-fiction series takes place in the past, present and future, after an astrophysicist makes contact with an alien species leading to an existential threat to humanity.

The AP reported that the Shanghai court said Yao poisoned drinks in the office between September and December 2020 because of disputes he had with Qi and two others. Four others fell ill because of the poisonings, the outlet reported.

Chinese business magazine Caixin reported that Yao was obsessed with the show Breaking Bad and started his own poison manufacturing lab to conduct experiments with different poisons. The outlet reported that Yao was accused of giving Yao a bottle with 30 probiotic pills and one poison pill.

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Qi died on Christmas Day in 2020, Caixin reported, 10 days after he became sick after taking a poison pill. 3 Body Problem has since become a popular debut for Netflix and is currently streaming on the platform.

“It was certainly disconcerting,” Benioff told The Hollywood Reporter in January. “When you work in this business, you’re expecting all sorts of issues to arise. Somebody poisoning the boss is not generally one of them.”

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