The Shocking Real-Life Murder Plauging Netflix’s Most Watched New Series [Horror IRL]
Chad Collins
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Netflix recently released David Benioff, D. B. Weiss (both of whom created Max’s Game of Thrones), and Alexander Woo’s 3 Body Problem, an adaptation of Liu Cixin’s Chinese novel The Three-Body Problem. Netflix’s adaptation marks the second time Cixin’s sci-fi novel, largely considered unfilmable, has been adapted.
The first, a Chinese-language series titled Three-Body, premiered there in 2023. The Netflix adaptation, on account of Netflix not being unavailable in China, is accessible to audiences only via VPNs and pirating. A lot going on with this show, really. But, it is topping the charts, so Netflix has to be thrilled about that.
Per Netflix: Across continents and decades, five brilliant friends make earth-shattering discoveries as the laws of science unravel and an existential threat emerges.
Most interesting (beyond considerable changes to the source material) is the horrifying true-crime origin for the series and the murder of one of its producers. Yoozoo Game founder Lin Qi owned the film rights to The Three-Body Problem. In 2020, it was reported that Xu Yao, a former executive at Yoozoo Games, helped negotiate the deal.
Details are scarce, though broadly, tension emerged between Lin and Yao, resulting for Xu working at Yoozoo in a reduced capacity. Xu, using another enterprise of his, reportedly began to experiment with poisons. In December 2020, Xu was arrested. Xu had been poisoning food and beverages at the office between September and December 2020 on account of the business disputes. Resultantly, four people were rendered seriously ill. In a heartbreaking turn, Lin passed away in December of that year, having been poisoned.
Watch the trailer for the Netflix series here:
Last week, Xu was sentenced to death in the case of Lin’s murder, ending a saga that has plagued the company and marred Netflix’s adaptation in further controversy. It’s an absolutely wild story that’s received very little attention, largely because 3 Body Problem has additional controversies to contend with.
What do you think? Are you looking forward to 3 Body Problem on Netflix? Let me know over on Twitter @Chadiscollins.
Categorized:News
