In the quest for the next culture-dominating Game of Thrones-esque series, consider Netflix’s big bet: 3 Body Problem, an adaptation of Chinese novelist Liu Cixin’s 2008 science fiction novel (the tote-around paperback for the haute-nerd set). It’s no small thing to transform Cixin’s extremely complex, time-jumping, alien-invasion story to the screen, but this is a show with ambition on hyperdrive: among the clutch of big name producers, none other than David Benioff and D.B. Weiss (of Thrones) serve as writer/producers, along with Alexander Woo, who was responsible for the excellent The Terror: Infamy. —TA
The Regime on Max (March)
Nearly three years (!) after Mare of Easttown reminded us all, for about the thousandth time, that Kate Winslet is one of the very best we have, she returns to HBO in The Regime, a political satire set in a fictional Central European autocracy wherein the fearsome chancellor (Winslet) is beginning to lose her grip. (The first teasers feel a little Veep meets The Favourite, with some Succession-flavored jockeying thrown the mix.) The talent behind the camera is mighty—Winslet, Will Tracy, Frank Rich, Tracey Seaward, Stephen Frears, and Jessica Hobbs are all executive producers (with Tracy serving as showrunner), while the writing team includes playwright Sarah DeLappe, novelist Gary Shteyngart, and Juli Weiner, an Emmy winner for her work on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver—but the show’s cast isn’t bad either. Besides Winslet there’s also the likes of Matthias Schoenaerts, Andrea Riseborough, Martha Plimpton, and Hugh Grant. —MM
Manhunt on Apple TV+ (March)
Photo: Chris Reel/Apple TV+
