Set for world domination

Wang and police officer Shi delve into the investigation and discover the Trisolaran plan to hinder Earth's scientific development to bide time for its fleet, which is set to arrive around 450 years in the future.

Producer Cai Jia says the drama features about 1,000 locations, which were shot in Zhoushan, Ningbo and Hangzhou in Zhejiang province, Heihe in Heilongjiang province, and Beijing between June and December in 2020.

As the tale touches on a string of complex scientific theories, Cai recalls they invited more than 30 Chinese scientists from various fields like physics and mathematics to give lectures to the cast and crew. They also managed to shoot several iconic scenes at China's top scientific sites, including the National Center for Nanoscience and Technology and the Beijing Electron Positron Collider's national lab.

For Cai and her fellow crew members, it was like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to participate in the production of Three-Body, which also led them to re-examine their own feelings concerning the continuation of civilization.

"Liu's Three-Body trilogy is a very interesting and intriguing classic. No matter how many times you read it, you will gain a new understanding every time," says Cai.

"One of its main charms lies in its bland depiction of an unprecedented crisis in seemingly routine, down-to-earth scenes. For example, scientist Wang and police officer Shi talk about the fate of humanity in a small restaurant, but Shi is also worried about his mortgage and his son's education," echoes Bai.

"Such scenes inspired from typical modern Chinese lives make it more culturally familiar to all of us. For a moment, you would even believe what is depicted in the novel could take place in the real world," says Bai.