3 Body Problem season 2 is already being mapped out, and the Netflix sci-fi show creators think it could run for two or three more seasons

Netflix’s epic new sci-fi series 3 Body Problem brings the world of Liu Cixin’s novels to life as it tells the story of an unprecedented extraterrestrial threat. The eight-part drama begins with a series of mysterious scientist deaths as it soon becomes clear that a decision made by a young woman decades prior has put the whole world in danger.

But despite its first season only just arriving on Netflix, and no season 2 renewal announced yet, the creators of the show are already planning ahead. Speaking to the Inside Total Film podcast and GamesRadar+, the showrunners – Game of Thrones creators D.B. Weiss and David Benioff, and True Blood’s Alexander Woo – say they are hopeful for many more seasons.

"Well, there’s three novels in the trilogy," Woo explains. "The novels get longer and longer so I wouldn't say it maps out exactly to three. We have some really strong ideas about what to do in a season two, and then it’s a little hazier down the line. But we want to get to the end, we want to get to the end of the trilogy, and whether that's three or four, you know, or some other number."

The showrunner adds: "The goal is to get to the end of the trilogy and it seems like it would map out over probably, certainly more than two seasons but beyond that, it's hard to know exactly."

Co-creator D. B. Weiss adds that they’re already working on mapping out further seasons, despite not yet getting a greenlight from Netflix. "We don't have a second season, but we need to keep pushing forward full steam ahead as if we did," he clarifies. "Because if we do get a second season, we'll need to hit the ground running in terms of pre-production and production to get it out to people in some kind of reasonable time. A show like this takes a long time to make and you can't wait to get started thinking about it until somebody gives you the green light."

Clarifying where they are currently at, he adds: "I think we have a pretty evolved sense of where it's going. We've been doing some work on that front and the subsequent seasons after that are a lot hazier because once you really get into the weeds on a season of television it really takes all of your waking hours, and there's not much time left to be simultaneously plotting a third or a fourth season. So the short answer is yes, we've got a second season that is being formulated and kept on deck in the event that we get to go ahead."

Third showrunner Benioff also opened up about wanting to focus on independent stories going forwards. "I think you know, when you've got a franchise that's already so well established, like Star Wars or James Bond or so forth, I think there's less independence when you come in to try to tell a story that you want to tell and so I think what Dan [Weiss] and I have learned is that it's more fun for us to start something afresh," he adds speaking of the joy of making 3 Body Problem.

3 Body Problem is out on Netflix now. For our full conversation, listen to the Inside Total Film podcast, out now. For more on 3 Body Problem, check out our guides to 3 Body Problem season 2 and our spoiler-filled breakdown of the 3 Body Problem ending explained.