Get Ready For '3 Body Problem' to Invade Your TV

It's been four years since Netflix first announced the upcoming sci-fi series, 3 Body Problem, which is finally slated to premiere later this month. The generation-spanning story is helmed by Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, alongside The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks co-writer Alexander Woo. Following the popularity of Thrones, audiences and critics alike are surely hoping that the duo's next project can repeat the success of the HBO fantasy series.

3 Body Problem begins during the Chinese Cultural Revolution in the 1970s, when an astrophysicist (Rosalind Chao) receives an alien transmission. Her decision to answer the call sends a ripple effect to present day, where the planet's brightest minds are bracing for the threat of intergalactic war. To prepare themselves for potential conflict, detective Da Shi (Benedict Wong), theoretical physicist Jin Cheng (Jess Hong), physics research assistant Saul Durand (Jovan Adepo), nanotech genius Auggie Salazar (Eiza González), physicist Jack Rooney (John Bradley), and professor Will Downing (Alex Sharp) must work together in an Enders Game-esque virtual reality experience to solve the biggest threat to ever face humanity.

In a new trailer for the series (above), the brave team of scientists receive their virtual-reality helmets and dive into the game. All sorts of chaos occurs, as players use their survival skills to solve doomsday scenarios. The ultimate goal is to solve the "three-body problem"—an unanswerable physics theory. Essentially, it states that the further three entities interact with each other in time, the harder it is to predict their future. Hey, don't think you need a physics degree of your own to understand the series! Ultimately, 3 Body Problem is a story about humanity's struggle to survive.

The series is based on the popular Chinese science-fiction novel, Liu Cixin's The Three-Body Problem, which was the first-ever Asian novel to win Best Novel at the Hugo Awards. Cixin received significant praise from Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin during the novel's campaign for the Hugo Award; now, he'll see a televised adaption by the showrunners who brought Thrones to HBO. "We like the same things about the books that so many other fans do," Weiss told Netflix. "We’re doing everything in our power to bring this story to life in the best, most impactful way possible. But reading the books is not a prerequisite for understanding or enjoying the show."

On March 21, Netflix will release the entirety of 3 Body Problem's eight-episode first season. Hopefully, the aliens won't reach Earth before then.

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