Here’s why ‘3 Body Problem’ is set in the UK
3 Body Problem has left us with plenty of burning questions, from that intriguing conversation between Dr Ye Wenjie (Rosalind Chao) and Saul Durand (Jovan Adepo) to the mystery of what the San-Ti aliens might actually look like.
But anyone who’s read Liu Cixin’s Remembrance of Earth’s Past novel trilogy, which is set mostly in China and upon which the show is based, may have had another question: Why is the Netflix adaption set largely in the UK?
With the majority of the show either taking place in the ’60s and ’70s in China and Mongolia or present-day Oxford, London, and the southeastern English coast near Seven Sisters, Mashable put the show’s UK setting to showrunners David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, and Alexander Woo during a recent interview. The main takeaway was that the choice wasn’t so much a stylistic one as it was a logistical one.
“I think part of it was just familiarity,” said Benioff. “I mean Dan [Weiss] and I had worked there for many years. Not in England but in Northern Ireland, and worked with a mainly UK crew.”
Plenty of recognisable UK landmarks pop up in the show, from the colleges of Oxford University to the headquarters of the fictional Strategic Intelligence Agency on London’s south bank, through to the capital’s bustling Piccadilly Circus during the “you are bugs” scene.
Benioff said that they worked with a UK casting director and a largely UK cast on Game of Thrones and had a great experience — many of whom, such as John Bradley, Liam Cunningham, Conleth Hill, and Jonathan Pryce, turn up in 3 Body Problem.
“I don’t know if it’s superstition or a feeling of they really know what they’re doing over there, that made us want to get back together with a bunch of the same people we worked with before,” he said. “Some of it’s just that you start working with these people and you know that they’re incredibly good at their jobs, and you develop a shorthand with them. So for us, even though it’s a long trip and it would be a lot more convenient to work at home, we had such a great experience the first time around that we thought well, let’s try this again.”
How to watch: 3 Body Problem is now streaming on Netflix.
