David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, having conquered the fantasy genre with… game of thronesthey could have hired almost any talent they wanted for their latest project – a big-budget adaptation of Liu Cixi’s sci-fi novel, Three-body problemwhich arrives on Netflix this week.
However, one person remained immune to their powers of persuasion, as the creative duo revealed that former President Barack Obama turned down their offer to make a special appearance.
Benioff told USA Today that they made the request after learning that Obama was a huge fan of the original novel: “He actually signed a very funny note when we tried to get him to play a small role. The effect was: ‘In case there is a real alien invasion… “I think it’s better to save myself from this crisis.”
This is the biggest project from Benioff and Weiss since then game of thrones It ended after eight seasons in 2019. 3 Body problem It follows five Earth characters trying to defend the planet from an alien invasion. Liu Cixi’s novel has sold nine million copies since its publication in 2008 and won a Hugo Award.
In an interview with the BBC, Weiss said that he and Benioff were fascinated by the book’s complexity, describing it as “unlike anything we’ve read before, and certainly unlike anything we’ve ever thought about putting on screen.” It was also “as far away as possible from what we had just done Thrones“.
The duo worked alongside Alexander Wu (who previously created… TRUE blood) The cast includes John Bradley, Benedict Wong, Liam Cunningham, Jonathan Pryce, Rosalind Chow, Jess Hong, Zhen Zeng, Eiza Gonzalez and Marlo Kelly.
Since the novel is the first of a trilogy, Weiss and Benioff can look forward to another decade of work. “I hope it’s that big,” Benioff told the BBC Thrones. Our goal is really to get to season three.
Read the full interview with the BBC here