Netflix's new sci-fi series "3 Body Problem" is a huge story that is a bit of a head scratcher. Created by Alexander Wu and former "Game of Thrones" showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, the eight-episode epic is based on Chisin Liu's Hugo Award-winning "Reminiscences of Earth's Past" trilogy, which spans five continents and centuries from 1960s China to 400 years into the future It spans five continents and several centuries, from 1960s China to In the present day, the laws of nature are beginning to unravel, and a series of mysterious deaths have scientists around the world baffled. The brilliant physicists, known as the "Oxford Five," soon become embroiled in a struggle and discover that a woman's decision decades ago could lead to the destruction of the entire planet. (Simply put, aliens are on their way to Earth, and humanity has been given 400 years to prepare for extraterrestrial warfare.)

With Season 1 ending with an existential cliffhanger (which may or may not take four centuries), viewers are left wondering where this ingenious series will go next. Below is a summary of everything we know so far about the possibility of a "3-Body Problem" Season 2.

Not yet: This epic sci-fi series comes to Netflix on March 21, 2024, and streamers typically wait a couple of weeks for ratings before deciding whether to grant renewal. However, expectations are high for this series to become the streaming giant's next mega-hit (see "Stranger Things," "Bridgerton," "Squid Game," and "Wednesday"), so news of a possible season 2 may come out sooner rather than later.

The hiatus period for Netflix shows may be harder to predict than the cycle of stable and chaotic times, but in a SXSW interview with Collider, co-creators Benioff, Weiss, and Wu They revealed. They explained that the first two seasons of 3BP will follow the first two novel arcs of the trilogy, adding that filming for season two could begin as early as this fall.

"We have more than rough ideas for season two. We are much further along in that plan than we were in the rough idea stage," Weiss said.

Even if that fall shooting schedule holds, it will take several years to put together such a complex and VFX-heavy series. The probability is that the earliest we will see "3 Body Problems" Season 2 is spring 2026.

Most of the main cast of 3BODY PROBLEM is expected to return for Season 2: Jovan Adepo (Saul Durand), Eiza González (Aggie Salazar), Jess Hong (Jin Chen), Samer Usmani (Raj Varma ), Benedict Wong (Clarence "Da" Shi), Liam Cunningham (Thomas Wade), Marlo Kelly (Tatiana Haas), and Kai Shimooka (Sophon).

Whether the 60s cast (Gene Tseng as a young Ye Wenje and Ben Schnetzer as a young Mike Evans) will return depends on whether the show plans further flashbacks to show how Saint-Ti has attracted a large human following depends on it. Some faces that are unlikely to be seen outside of flashbacks are: Alex Sharp (Will Downing), John Bradley (Jack Rooney), Rosalind Chao (Wenjie Ip), and Jonathan Pryce (Mike Evans).

After Season 1 largely followed the arc of the first film of the trilogy of the same name, Season 2 will adapt the second film, entitled The Dark Forest. The Dark Forest will take place around the end of Season 1, when the United Nations launches the Wallfacer Project to develop a strategy against the Trisolarians (aliens known as Santi in the TV series). The Wallfacers are tasked with keeping the real plan only in their heads. The advantage humans have over aliens is that they can lie and obscure their intentions, whereas aliens can only communicate their true thoughts. In contrast, the extraterrestrials, with the help of all the information gathered by the sophonts, who can spy on every corner of the earth (except for reading human minds), choose some select human allies to counter the wallfacers. While centuries (yes, there is a time jump) prepare for the aliens' arrival, Luo Ji (a.k.a. (Saul Duran on the show) takes the lead role as a reluctant wall-facer who eventually becomes an integral part of the conflict.

There are also several characters whose futures are undetermined; San-Ti's ally and assassin Tatiana will remain a major threat even after the aliens send her a new headset in the season 1 finale. Also, although the staircase project failed, Jin and Will (or Will's frozen brain) could still play a major role in future seasons. Aggie could also make another appearance, as she was using nanofiber technology to help people at the end of Season 1, including filtering drinking water in a Mexican village.

One thing we do know: season two will be faithful to the original story, so viewers will have to wait several seasons to see the Sun-Ti in the flesh (or what their bodies are made of) when they finally arrive on Earth. Speaking of multiple seasons,

in an interview with Collider, the series' creators also discussed how they will approach filming the final volume of the trilogy, Death's End. The trio admitted that they are considering splitting the third book into two TV seasons for practical reasons: Death's End is 605 pages long, compared to The Three-Body Problem's 400 pages.

"The third book is thicker. I think it's twice as long as the other two books," Benioff said. 'So it could be one season, it could be two seasons. But, you know, I think you need at least three seasons, maybe four, to tell the whole story."