To manage a project as big as the science fiction novel version “3 Body Problem,” you need to be able to trust your team well. David Benioff and DB Weiss also know this, who, together with Alexander Woo, are showrunners behind the Netflix series. In the Benioff and Weiss revealed it to us in the FILMSTARTS interview already that they particularly enjoy working with people they already know.
So they brought their production partner Bernie Caulfield, production designer Deb Riley and composer Ramin Djawadi on board from their former “Game Of Thrones” team for “3 Body Problem.” And anyone who has already watched the science fiction series will probably have recognized John Bradley (Samwell Tarly in ‘GoT’), Liam Cunningham (Ser Davos Seaworth) and Jonathan Pryce (High Sparrow). But John Bradley wasn’t cast to play Jack Rooney in “3 Body Problem” just because of his involvement in “Game Of Thrones”…
John Bradley really got going in a pub
According to the makers of “Game Of Thrones,” he was recommended for the role for another reason. He was great as Samwell Tarly, but this genuinely friendly character didn’t exactly fit with the idea of Bradley as the arrogant entrepreneur and millionaire Jack Rooney. Benioff and Weiss came up with the idea to give him such a role in a pub when they saw John Bradley flirting.
A few years ago, they sat with Bradley in a pub in Belfast, the showrunners said at the LA premiere of ‘3 Body Problem’ (via ). When she saw the actor there When they saw him flirting with a tourist, they came to the conclusion that they would like to play him in a spicier, tougher role.
According to Benioff Bradley was “incredibly sarcastic” and dry during the banter. “He looks nothing like the Samwell that people know from ‘Game Of Thrones’,” said the series creator. From then on, they would have liked to see him in a role closer to John’s real personality.
“It doesn’t mean that [John Bradley] “He’s a bit of a jerk, just like Jack, but he’s just funny in such a wild way, and we really wanted to see that,” Benioff said. Bradley got the role not just because the showrunners wanted to get an old friend on board, but because the star practically forced himself into the role with his flirtatious behavior.
Liam Cunningham, on the other hand, doesn’t really fit his character Thomas Wade at all, as described in Liu Cixin’s ‘Trisolaris’ books – which DB Weiss humorously highlighted. In the book series, Wade will appear as “40 years old, devilishly handsome, looks like Hugh Jackman” described. “So of course we immediately thought of Liam Cunningham,” Weiss joked. In fact, they wanted Cunningham there so badly that they convinced him to turn down another job he had already accepted because of “3 Body Problem.”
All eight episodes of the first season of “3 Body Problem” are available on Netflix.