3 Body Problem Prepares for the Alien Invasion in Epic New Trailer

The alien invasion is underway in the final trailer for 3 Body Problem. The highly-anticipated Netflix original series comes from Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, and teams them up with Alexander Woo (The Terror: Infamy, True Blood). 3 Body Problem is based on the award-winning novel The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin, and is a sci-fi epic that spans decades and features an alien invasion, which can be previewed in the trailer below. After the way Game of Thrones ended, there's been some apprehension on how 3 Body Problem will be received by audiences, but the final trailer at least serves up a lot of intrigue.

The 3 Body Problem trailer begins with Jin Cheng (Jess Hong) speaking to someone on the phone. She's being attended to by paramedics and tells the person on the other end of the phone, "I have something to tell you. Something insane... but true. About all of us." The "us" she's referring to are the "Oxford Five," a group of young Oxford scientists at the root of the 3 Body Problem cast. Back in 1977, they discovered a sequence through radiowaves, and they called it a "Wow!" sequence. From there, weird occurrences across the Earth start happening, seemingly warning of the impending alien invasion.

What is 3 Body Problem about?

The official description of 3 Body Problem reads, "A young woman's fateful decision in 1960s China reverberates across space and time to a group of brilliant scientists in the present day. As the laws of nature unravel before their eyes five former colleagues reunite to confront the greatest threat in humanity's history."

The cast includes Jess Hong, Jovan Adepo, Eiza González, John Bradley, Alex Sharp, Benedict Wong, Liam Cunningham, Zine Tseng, Rosalind Chao, Ben Schnetzer, Jonathan Pryce, Liam Cunningham, Marlo Kelly, Sea Shimooka, Saamer Usmani, and Eve Ridley.

Game of Thrones creators make big promises about 3 Body Problem ending

Like Game of Thrones, 3 Body Problem adapts a complex work of prose fiction with a large cast and big ideas, though at three books the story is significantly shorter than the A Song of Ice and Fire series that Game of Thrones adapted. Game of Thrones showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff also have the advantage this time around of the source being complete, with a known ending for them to work towards and from. Convincing Netflix to let them reach that point may be the bigger challenge.

"Honestly, the ending of the third book [Death's End] is one of my favorite endings of any giant saga of all time, so we want to get there," Benioff told Empire. "The hardest thing is always the first season. Can we justify the big investment from Netflix? I feel like this will grow as it grows. I'm hopeful."

Despite the backlash that the final Game of Thrones series sparked, Weiss and Benioff did not shy away from the idea of taking on another series similar in scale. "The feeling that it may be too much was familiar for us," says Weiss. "It was what we felt with Thrones, in conjunction with a tremendous amount of excitement over the possibilities of where it could go if we could get it off the ground. It was the terror of the magnitude of what was in front of us. If you're not afraid, you're doing something wrong."

3 Body Problem streams March 21st exclusively on Netflix.