The first season of Netflix’s 3 Body Problem ended on a cliffhanger, which makes us believe that the second season would most likely follow Liu Cixin’s second book in the Remembrance of Earth’s Past series. Those who have read the book might already know that the creators of the Netflix series have introduced a few elements from the second and third books to create a great continuing arc for the characters, even though they have failed miserably in it. The Wallfacers Project isn’t introduced in the first book and is a part of the second book, which is why Saul Durand, based on the second book’s protagonist, Luo Ji, felt out of place in the Netflix show. But let’s not go into that territory and speculate what we can expect from Netflix’s 3 Body Problem season 2.
Spoiler Alert
The Wallfacers Project
In collaboration with the Planetary Defense Council (PDC), the United Nations announced the Wallfacers Project after they found out that the Sophons surveillance system couldn’t read human thoughts. While in The Dark Forest, four individuals are selected for the project, in the series, it has been trimmed down to 3. The first two Wallfacers, General Hou Bolin and Professor Leyla Aric, would suggest the creation of nuclear bombs or a mosquito-like fighter jet army. On the other hand, Saul Durand, the third Wallfacer, would struggle to come to terms with the idea that he could save the world. However, a lover in his life, most likely Auggie Salazar, would convince him otherwise, after which Saul would come up with the idea of expressive communication. As established in the series, the Sophons could only understand the spoken words or data stored on technological devices, but feelings and emotions were beyond their understanding. In the end, Saul uses Project Snow to make a truce with the aliens, thereby ending the conflict between the two civilizations and ultimately leading to peace. That’s where the second book ends.
Moon Space Station
In 3 Body Problem season 1, CIA agent Thomas Wade initiated the process to create a space station on Mare Imbrium (Earth’s Moon), where the team would be able to assemble larger ships due to lower gravity. Jin Cheng’s ex-boyfriend, Raj Varma, a navy officer, was assigned the mission. In the second season of the series, we can see Raj, as the head of the space station, preparing for a clash with the San-Ti fleet. Under this initiative, humanity would indeed create a fleet larger than the San-Ti’s, but technically, it wouldn’t be a match against them. A single probe sent by the San-Ti would destroy an entire human fleet in a matter of seconds. This might be the reason why Sophons didn’t try to intervene in the project when Wade decided to send Raj to the Moon. However, such a large fleet and a space elevator would bring the possibility of finding new habitable planets in other solar systems, which might become humans’ last mode of survival. But I don’t think they would need it, especially when Saul the Wallfacer is there to save the day.
The Wallbreakers
During 3 Body Problem season 1’s ending, the aliens lost their trust in Mike Evans and Ye Wenjie, after which they decided to cut out the middlemen and form an army of their own on Earth. Being a multi-dimensional supercomputer, Sophons couldn’t carry out any physical tasks, which is why they needed a human puppet to execute certain tasks for them. And their blind follower, Tatiana, was the perfect candidate for it. Sophons would use Tatiana and the likes of her as a resistance army against humans and try to kill the scientists or sabotage their projects to stop humans from advancing further. Their first goal would be to tamper with the Wallfacers Project. It was implied that Tatiana and others would kill the three elected individuals or would try to find out about their secret strategies so that they could plan a counterattack in advance. In the second season, the Wallbreakers will most likely sabotage the plans of the first two Wallfacers, except for Saul, because he is the hero. Also, it was a Wallbreaker who fired a sniper gun at Saul outside the UN to kill him, as aliens saw Saul as a threat to their plan. And it wouldn’t be the last attack on Saul’s life. The Wallbreakers wouldn’t give up until they had eliminated the threat against their invasion completely.
Hibernation Project
There was a reason why Dr. Demikhov’s Hibernation Project was introduced in the first season of Netflix’s 3 Body Problem. The creators used the majority of the runtime to establish the characters for the audience, and they would most likely continue their arc in the second season. However, there is one problem. The San-Ti are going to arrive on Earth after 400 years, during which most of these characters will die of natural causes. In order to preserve these key characters, the book introduced the Hibernation Project, which can slow down their aging process (or stop it). It was an important plot device to jump into the futuristic world without comprising the existing characters. A similar thing took place in Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series, if anyone remembers.
Nevertheless, as season 1 ended, Thomas Wade decided to go into hibernation so that the old soul could remain alive until the San-Ti Invasion and oversee the plan. But, as the book suggests, two other scientists are going to make use of this technology. They are Jin Cheng and our own Saul Durand. The failure of the Staircase project wasn’t the end of Cheng. She would go into hibernation and wait for the technology to advance so that she could lead the same project in the future and achieve success. Her hibernation also implies a reunion with her lover, Will Downing, but that’s part of the third book, so let’s not get into that.
As far as Saul is concerned, he reveals the location of star 187J3X1 to the universe to understand the reaction to his revelation. After exposing its location, Saul went into hibernation to see the effects of his “spell” show. In reality, it was nothing but a small experiment based on a theory of cosmic sociology. This experiment will help Saul come to a truce with the San-Ti, who will finally understand the point Saul was trying to make through the discovery of 187J3X1. So, in the end, these three characters are surely going into hibernation and will continue their journey in the second season. As for Auggie Salazar, I am hopeful that we might see her again, but considering the role of Wang Miao in the first book, it might be an end for Auggie.
