Cr. Ed Miller/Netflix © 2024
3 Body Problem is easily one of Netflix’s most ambitious series, brought to life by the duo behind HBO’s Game of Thrones. The show (mostly) delivered on expectations, leading to a two-season renewal that will take the story to its conclusion. It’s now been a year since the show hit our screens, and we’ve finally got some new details on when and, perhaps just as importantly, where season 2 will be filming.
Although some time has passed since that announcement and production has not officially begun, that’s about to change. Early production plans have now been revealed, with both upcoming seasons likely set to be filmed back to back, akin to the recent example of Avatar: The Last Airbender, which was similarly renewed for a second and third season together.
Until now, most production listing websites, such as UKCasting News, ProductionIntelligence, and ProductionWeekly, have listed a Spring 2025 start in the United Kingdom for season 2 and a similar timeline for season 3, taking production through early 2027. A recent listing stated an April 2025 start with production scheduled for April 2026, with Jeremy Podeswa and Miguel Sapochnik set to direct. Netflix, in an email to us, said this information was inaccurate.
New documents, seen by What’s on Netflix, suggest that much of the filming for seasons 2 and 3 will occur in Hungary. This is a notable change from season 1, which was filmed mainly in the United Kingdom, including across London under the codename Straight Shooter.
The Hungarian tax filing for the project confirms that the Hungarian production is being handled by Pioneer Stillking Andrássy Kft., based in Budapest. According to the filing, production officially begins on June 7, 2025, with filming set to start on August 7, 2025, and a listed completion date of February 8, 2027.
According to the filing, the total “Filmmaking budget” or “Direct Film Production Costs” is listed at 96.2 billion HUF (~$260M USD), with Hungarian production costs totaling 77 billion HUF (~$209.4M USD). The production has filed for 28.86 billion HUF (~$78.4M USD) in “Indirect support.” The listing also seemingly suggests seasons 2 and 3 will consist of 11 episodes in total, suggesting each would have a budget of around $24M if that were to be the total episode count.
Netflix did not respond to a request for comment on the Hungarian tax filing information.
All of this is backed up by Jeremy Podeswa, a director and producer on the series, who recently posted a number of pictures from Budapest, the capital of Hungary, in addition to more remote areas of the country, no doubt scouting for locations.
Last month, Eiza González spoke to Extra TV about the upcoming season and the renewal. “We are so, so grateful that the audience is connected with it,” the actress said, adding, “It’s such a hard, you know, it’s a very unique piece of material. I remember reading the book and the scripts and just being completely transfixed by this world creation. And it’s so, it’s so sci-fi that sometimes you never know where it’s going to land, but people really welcomed it with open arms. And it’s amazing to meet people and how they’ve connected with the show. And I’m super excited for second and third season because if people have read the books, we’re going into the most amazing source material.”
González added the following tease, “It’s about to get real crazy, so you should buckle up.”
We’ll keep you posted as and when we learn more about the future of 3 Body Problem on Netflix.
Rating: TV-MA
