CES 2024 just got very interesting — thanks to, of all things, Netflix.
The annual tech expo in Las Vegas hasn’t really excited me in quite some time, but that’s going to change come January. On Jan. 9, to be specific, when Netflix hosts a press preview of its highly anticipated series 3 Body Problem — a series which is not only an adaptation of one of the most celebrated sci-fi novels of all time. Its showrunners also include David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, making this the much-anticipated follow-up to the pair’s landmark HBO drama Game of Thrones.
Benioff and Weiss, along with writer-producer Alexander Woo, will both be on hand for the press preview, which also marks the streaming giant’s first major presence at CES since 2018. And it’s here where Netflix will release the first full-length trailer for the series, which is based on the novel of the same name by Chinese author Liu Cixin. As part of this event, CES attendees will wear an otherworldly headset that transports them into the universe of the new show in a fun and experiential way.
CES attendees will watch the first 3 Body Problem trailer through that headset display, which the streamer says will transport them “into an immersive, real-world extension of the series, revealing clues about the nature of the core threat in the 3 Body Problem.”
I’d go so far as to say the series looks like it has the potential to deliver Netflix another triumph along the lines of shows like Black Mirror and the cult favorite Dark. As for the story itself, the 3 Body Problem is set during China’s Cultural Revolution. A secretive project involving the military sends out a signal to try and make contact with aliens, and that effort ends up being a success.
The signal is picked up by an alien race that’s imploding, and it decides to invade Earth — which sets off all sorts of squabbles and creates divisions between those who, for example, want to fight the invaders and those who want to help. “It was impossible to expect a moral awakening from humankind itself, just like it was impossible to expect humans to lift off the earth by pulling up on their own hair,” Cixin writes at one point in the novel. “To achieve moral awakening required a force outside the human race.”
Fans of the book include celebrities like Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Game of Thrones writer George R.R. Martin, and President Barack Obama. The Netflix series will consist of eight episodes and has a cast that includes Liam Cunningham, Eiza Gonzalez, Benedict Wong, and Jonathan Pryce.
Check out an exclusive clip from the 3 Body Problem series, which hits Netflix on March 21, below.
