“Count me out for Season 2″: Netflix’s 3 Body Problem Needs a Real Miracle to Retain Viewers After First Season Failed to Land the Ending
3 Body Problem has turned out to be one of the most popular shows on Netflix, but that was until the show ended in a way that the fans necessarily did not like. Netflix keeps getting into the cross-hairs with fans every time they cancel a show, when fans evidently want more. However, the streamer seems to have turned the tables around this time.
The series is adapted from the hit trilogy of books by Chinese author Cixin Liu, and premiered on Netflix with eight episodes in March 2024. Recently, it was announced that the series has been renewed despite how disappointed fans were with the ending of the first season.
Netflix Has Renewed 3 Body Problem
3 Body Problem is a sci-fi series which follows a group of scientists who discover the existence of an extraterrestrial threat and struggle with tackling it as they attempt to save humanity from the peril. This extraterrestrial threat is the result of a response made to an alien contact from a secret military base in a remote region during the Chinese Cultural Revolution.
The show was released to positive reviews and has a 79% critics score on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. Netflix has recently announced the renewal of the series on their X account. Executive producers David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, and Alexander Woo wrote through the post:
“We’re thrilled that we get to tell this story through to its epic conclusion. Ever since we read the last page of Cixin Liu’s magnificent trilogy, we hoped we’d be able to bring the audience to the end of the universe with us. Here we go!”
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The show has an ensemble cast featuring Eiza González, Liam Cunningham, Rosalind Chao, Zine Tseng, and Benedict Wong. Benioff, Weiss and Woo are returning as the executive producers and writers of the show (via Tudum).
Is Renewing 3 Body Problem for a Second Season a Good Idea?
Although the show has ben received positively, fans did react well to the ending of the eighth episode of the first season because the cliff-hanger at the end was not very satisfying. Consequently, they were not really interested in a second season. Here is what how some fans reacted to the news of its renewal:
Hot take: Started strong but fizzled out by episode three. Count me out for season two. 🥱
— X1TheGamer (@xonebros) May 16, 2024
I'm not a fan of this show; I find it overhyped and lacking a compelling storyline.
— Joydeep Nath (@_Joydeepnath) May 16, 2024
I hope you don’t make it as boring. Season 1 dragged. Pick up the pace.
— Man For Mindy (@manformindy) May 15, 2024
I stuck it out for the whole season. By the end, I was relieved it was all over. I’m sure the books are better, but the show made me lose interest in ever reading them. The few good sequences weren’t enough to call this series good, let alone to renew it.
— Melodie Smith (@MelodieInCLE) May 16, 2024
https://twitter.com/kenzo_larson/status/1790891661188603962
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The eighth episode of the series sees Jin Cheng (Jess Hong) and Thomas Wade’s (Liam Cunningham) Staircase Project fail, which makes them lose hope. Da Shi (Benedict Wong) takes Jin and Saul (Jovan Adepo) to a lake of cicadas and attempts to inspire them by saying that humans have been trying to get rid of bugs for a long time now, but the bugs always survive. Fans were not too impressed by this ending. Here is what some of them wrote on X about it:
3 Body Problem what kind of shitty ending is that??🤦🏽♀️ most unsatisfactory cliff hanging ever
— 𝕯𝖔𝖓 𝕯𝖆𝖉𝖆🌴 (@naisulaaa) March 30, 2024
Finished 3 body problem tonight and actually rly annoyed w the ending. Anyone else dive into that show?
— TayZgg (@TayZgg) May 2, 2024
3 body problem ending was ass 😒
— J P III 🐺♠️ (@J_2Priceless) April 17, 2024
The ending of 3 Body Problem sucked too. https://t.co/lVzpFL3HWK
— Iconoclast (@ProfessorDNA) April 1, 2024
That was a wack ending to "3 Body Problem".
— E___🤷🏽♀️ (@Ed_naaaa) March 25, 2024
Netflix has not given the exact streaming numbers of the show so it is hard to tell how many fans actually want the show to return. However, it is good to see Netflix renew a show with its streak of canceling some out of the blue. Hopefully, the new season will keep fans hooked, and have an ending that is easy for the viewers to decipher.
3 Body Problem is available for streaming on Netflix.