‘GOT’ creators did not appropriate Chinese culture in ‘three-body problem’, director says

• Netflix’s The Three-Body Problem is an adaptation of Chinese science fiction author Liu Cixin’s award-winning series.
• The series is show-run by David Benioff, DB Weiss, and Alexander Wu, and features an international cast.
• Director Derek Tsang said he did not believe Benioff and Weiss engaged in cultural appropriation.

Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and DB Weiss’ new show, 3 Body Problems, is an adaptation of Chinese author Liu Cixin’s sci-fi trilogy, “Reminiscences of Earth’s Past.”

The first of these, The Three-Body Problem, became the first Asian novel to win the Hugo Award for Best Novel and is on the recommended reading lists of Mark Zuckerberg and President Barack Obama. However, the long-awaited film adaptation of the series by showrunners Benioff, Weiss, and Alexander Wu transforms Liu’s novel into a more world-focused story. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the first season of the show will primarily take place in the United Kingdom, along with China, the United States, and Panama.

Hong Kong-born Oscar-nominated director Derek Tsang (“Better Days”), who directed the first two episodes of the series, told The Hollywood Reporter that he disagrees with the plagiarism.

“I don’t think people realize how monumental this novel is in our area. This novel makes people aware of what this genre is about. “It’s considered a science fiction novel,” he said.

“But this book is not an easy read, and I give a lot of credit to David and Dan for making it easier to read,” Tsang continued. “They also wanted it to be as authentic as possible. There’s no way they’re appropriating our culture.”

This is not the first time that Liu’s novel has been adapted into a theatrical film. Chinese conglomerate Tencent released a 30-episode Mandarin version of the first series in 2023. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Tencent’s series and the upcoming Netflix series are often compared, and one comment online was that Liu’s story is inherently substantive. Chinese is difficult to convey in foreign versions.

However, according to THR, the Chinese company Yoozoo Gaming, which owns the rights to the series, specifically wanted Netflix to translate the series into English (Netflix is ​​not accessible in China).

Wu, one of the showrunners, said, “It was our directive from the beginning to do a show on a global scale, and the Chinese nature of the book’s philosophy remains in some of the characters.” Ta.