File Photo: Sci-fi writer Liu Cixin attends the opening forum for 2015 Xingyun (Nebula) Award for Global Chinese Science Fiction in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, Oct. 17, 2015. (Photo: Xinhua)

Fans of Chinese sci-fi trilogy The Three-Body Problem were thrilled after the books author revealed in mid-October that production is currently underway on TV adaptations helmed by Chinese and US production companies. However, the lack of a concrete release date after years of waiting also has fans worried. 

On October 17, Liu Cixin, China's Hugo award winning novelist, revealed that production was underway on the adaptations in an interview with media after giving a speech at his alma mater, the North China University of Water Resources and Electric Power in Zhengzhou, Central China's Henan Province. 

"Now both domestic and overseas production companies are in the process of adapting the novels and China might release the series sooner than the Hollywood one," said Liu. 

"Based on the original plan, Netflix is going to start shooting this year," he added.

In 2008, Tencent Video struck a deal to adapt the story into a TV series. According to a report from the 21st Century Business Herald, Tencent began shooting in July 2020, with plans to release the series in 2021. 

Yet no updates about a release date have come despite the fact that 2021 is entering its tail end. 

In 2020, news reports said that Netflix had also greenlit an adaptation helmed by True Blood's Alexander Woo and Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss. Netflix had earlier struck a deal with the Chinese company the Yoozoo Group's The Three-Body Universe, the managers of the IP, for the rights to produce an English-language adaptation of the trilogy.

Netflix has also yet to announce a release date.

In light of the recent release of the latest film adaptation of the famed Western sci-fi novel Dune and its mixed reception in China, fans have expressed worry that the adaptation of Liu's novel may go through the similar twists and turns that Dune has over the years, while discussing how to produce "such a large-scale science fiction movie without it becoming a flop."

Dune saw three failed adaptations before its current version finally hit theaters in October 2021. Reports have described adapting the story as "historically troubled." In 2016, the film rights for Dune were transferred to Legendary Pictures, a film production company based in California. According to reports, Legendary's latest adaptation cost 165 million dollars to make. 

While fans have been waiting for a successful movie version of Dune for years, reviews for the movie have been mixed in China. An insider told the Global Times that watching science fiction adaptations like this requires a lot of background knowledge to understand, which is why a considerable number of moviegoers are reluctant to watch them or "cannot understand them even when they do go." 

"Just like Dune, The Three-Body Problem requires a lot of money and energy for special effects. It also needs a good team to draw out a big picture and tell a specific story with their cameras," Zou, a fan of Liu's trilogy, told the Global Times on Monday, saying that she is still looking forward to watching both the Chinese and English versions.

File Photo: Sci-fi writer Liu Cixin attends the opening forum for 2015 Xingyun (Nebula) Award for Global Chinese Science Fiction in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, Oct. 17, 2015. (Photo: Xinhua)

Fans of Chinese sci-fi trilogy The Three-Body Problem were thrilled after the books author revealed in mid-October that production is currently underway on TV adaptations helmed by Chinese and US production companies. However, the lack of a concrete release date after years of waiting also has fans worried. 

On October 17, Liu Cixin, China's Hugo award winning novelist, revealed that production was underway on the adaptations in an interview with media after giving a speech at his alma mater, the North China University of Water Resources and Electric Power in Zhengzhou, Central China's Henan Province. 

"Now both domestic and overseas production companies are in the process of adapting the novels and China might release the series sooner than the Hollywood one," said Liu. 

"Based on the original plan, Netflix is going to start shooting this year," he added.

In 2008, Tencent Video struck a deal to adapt the story into a TV series. According to a report from the 21st Century Business Herald, Tencent began shooting in July 2020, with plans to release the series in 2021. 

Yet no updates about a release date have come despite the fact that 2021 is entering its tail end. 

In 2020, news reports said that Netflix had also greenlit an adaptation helmed by True Blood's Alexander Woo and Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss. Netflix had earlier struck a deal with the Chinese company the Yoozoo Group's The Three-Body Universe, the managers of the IP, for the rights to produce an English-language adaptation of the trilogy.

Netflix has also yet to announce a release date.

In light of the recent release of the latest film adaptation of the famed Western sci-fi novel Dune and its mixed reception in China, fans have expressed worry that the adaptation of Liu's novel may go through the similar twists and turns that Dune has over the years, while discussing how to produce "such a large-scale science fiction movie without it becoming a flop."

Dune saw three failed adaptations before its current version finally hit theaters in October 2021. Reports have described adapting the story as "historically troubled." In 2016, the film rights for Dune were transferred to Legendary Pictures, a film production company based in California. According to reports, Legendary's latest adaptation cost 165 million dollars to make. 

While fans have been waiting for a successful movie version of Dune for years, reviews for the movie have been mixed in China. An insider told the Global Times that watching science fiction adaptations like this requires a lot of background knowledge to understand, which is why a considerable number of moviegoers are reluctant to watch them or "cannot understand them even when they do go." 

"Just like Dune, The Three-Body Problem requires a lot of money and energy for special effects. It also needs a good team to draw out a big picture and tell a specific story with their cameras," Zou, a fan of Liu's trilogy, told the Global Times on Monday, saying that she is still looking forward to watching both the Chinese and English versions.