The release of Netflix’s series 3 Body Problem has been watched millions of times around the globe since its release late last month.

It has even found an audience in China where Netflix is unavailable, sparking much chatter among viewers of the series.

But many fans of the three-book series, credited with propelling China’s nascent science fiction genre after its publication in 2008, have also been paying attention to a court room in Shanghai where one of the key players behind the adaptation was sentenced to death just a day after the show’s release.

His crime? Murdering a man sometimes dubbed China’s “billionaire millennial” – the gaming tycoon Lin Qi, whose company Yoozoo Games owns the rights for film adaptations of the Chinese science fiction epic.

According to the court, Xu Yao, who was known as a distinguished lawyer, became consumed by professional rivalry after Lin sidelined him shortly after he helped land the Netflix deal in 2020.

Within months of this apparent slight, Lin was dead – the victim of a poisoning plot described as both “premeditated” and “extremely despicable” by the court last week.

For fans of The Three-Body Problem, which features an alien civilisation and is set against the backdrop of China’s Cultural Revolution, the parallels were clear.

“At least we know that Xu Yao and Lin Qi have read The Three-Body Problem thoroughly. Lose your humanity and you lose a lot; lose your animal nature and you lose everything,” said one comment on China’s Weibo.

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