3 Body Problem's Real-Life Murder Case Is Scarier Than The Netflix Show

Season 1 of "3 Body Problem," based on the book of the same name by Cixin Liu, is earning a ton of praise. Looper's review of Netflix's "3 Body Problem" applauds the series for being a "stunningly ambitious adaptation of an unwieldy science fiction text, bringing both humanity and existential terror to its otherwise analytical approach." However, there's a behind-the-scenes story concerning this adaptation that's just as dark and terrifying as the show itself, resulting in the death of Lin Qi, who owned the rights to adapt the original novel, "The Three-Body Problem," into a film or TV series.

Let's back up a bit: After the initial book series became a huge success, Lin Qi, founder of Yoozoo Games, purchased the adaptation rights. In September 2020, Yoozoo partnered with Netflix to create an English-language series based on the Chinese book; however, Lin would soon be targeted by Xu Yao, a senior executive at Yoozoo at the time. Allegedly, there was infighting at the company, and despite several outlets initially reporting that Xu poisoned Lin's tea, it later appears as though he actually tampered with tablets Lin was taking.

Lin fell ill, requiring hospitalization, in December 2020, and he ultimately passed away on December 25. Xu was arrested shortly thereafter. On March 22, 2024, Xu was sentenced to death in connection with Lin's death, just one day after "3 Body Problem" premiered on Netflix. There may be ample death and dark subject matter on "3 Body Problem," but the fact someone connected to the project was murdered tragically creates an insidious new layer to the story that sounds like it came out of a murder novel.

Netflix's "3 Body Problem" isn't the first attempt to bring the ambitious science-fiction franchise to people's screens. A Chinese-made series actually beat Netflix to the punch by releasing in 2023; however, there was also an attempt to create a full-fledged movie on the property first. Xu Yao was the CEO of a subsidiary of Yoozoo Games called The Three-Body Problem Universe, with the goal of bringing this story to life within another medium after an expensive acquisition. Over the course of several years, Xu allegedly spent $100 million US to adapt the story into a movie, and the results apparently weren't stellar. The project remains unreleased.

Other American companies offered to adapt the book before Netflix. In March 2018, it was reported that Amazon was interested in spending a cool $1 billion to adapt "The Three-Body Problem" for its own platform, clearly wanting something on the scale of "Game of Thrones" for itself. In 2020, when the rights eventually landed at Netflix and the streaming service announced plans to adapt the property, Lin Qi's name was listed as an executive producer. Xu's name was nowhere to be found. 

Another aspect of the "3 Body Problem" murder case is that Xu was allegedly a fan of the TV show "Breaking Bad," which happens to feature characters poisoning other people. In addition to Lin, several other people who worked at the company also fell ill, but they were able to recover. The whole thing is a true crime event worthy of a Netflix adaptation all on its own.