Showrunners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss were scared to adapt 3 Body Problem after Game of Thrones debacle

The eighth season of Game of Thrones was not to everyone’s taste. The season finale split the fan base in two. Some pointed to the absence of George R. R. Martin‘s next book in the series. Some blamed the showrunners’ desperate attempt to collaborate with Disney’s Lucasfilm on a simultaneous Star Wars trilogy.

The controversy scared David Benioff and D. B. Weiss enough to make them think twice before adapting another TV show, or going back to Game of Thrones.

Game of Thrones showrunners were afraid to work on 3 Body Problem

The massive backlash that Benioff and Weiss received caused them to move away from all things TV for quite some time. In a recent interview with THR, the showrunners recalled reading the script for the 3 Body Problem. Benioff said, “We finished within 10 minutes of each other and Dan came over to my seat and said, ‘What do you think?’ I said, ‘Well, that ending is amazing.’ And Dan says, ‘We’ve got to do this, right?’ ”

Added Weiss, “What excited us about Thrones when we read George’s books was that this was something we had never seen onscreen before. In a lot of ways, this couldn’t be more different from Game of Thrones, but it had that in common.”

Benioff concludes, “It was the first thing we’d come across since Thrones where we were actually scared. We knew this is going to be hard.”

What is the premise of 3 Body Problem?

Adapted from Liu Cixin’s novel of the same name, the 3 Body Problem chronicles humanity’s first alien encounter in a fictional world. Benioff explained,

“It’s much less about fighting tentacle monsters and much more about how does humanity respond to this great existential threat? And, sadly for us, in the last few years we’ve seen that mankind doesn’t respond particularly well to existential threats. It’s hard to be idealistic and think we’d all come together if we had to. The aliens appeal to certain people who believe they’re superior to us — and, technologically, they are.”

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