Netflix to film Liu's bestselling sci-fi trilogy

The creators of “Game of Thrones” will team up with “Star Wars” director Rian Johnson and Brad Pitt for an ambitious new Chinese sci-fi adaptation, Netflix announced on Tuesday.

Liu Cixin’s bestselling book trilogy “The Three-Body Problem,” which tells the epic story of humanity’s first contact with an alien civilization, will become an international series for the streaming giant.

Netflix said that the English-language adaptation will cover all three of the award-winning Chinese novels — “The Three-Body Problem,” “The Dark Forest,” and “Death’s End.”

“Liu Cixin’s trilogy is the most ambitious science-fiction series we’ve read, taking readers on a journey from the 1960s until the end of time, from life on our pale blue dot to the distant fringes of the universe,” “Thrones” duo David Benioff and D B Weiss, who will co-write, said in a statement.

They will be joined as executive producers by Rian Johnson, who oversaw 2017’s critically acclaimed “Star Wars” movie “The Last Jedi,” as well as Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment company.

Prolific Chinese science fiction author Liu and the novel’s translator Ken Liu will be consulting producers.

“I set out to tell a story that transcends time and the confines of nations, cultures and races; one that compels us to consider the fate of humankind as a whole,” Liu said in a statement.

It imagines an alternate history in which a female Chinese astrophysicist makes contact with an alien civilization, prompting global fears of an invasion.

“The Three-Body Problem” was first published in book form in 2008 and became one of the most popular science fiction novels in China. An English translation followed in 2014.

Another of Liu’s works, “The Wandering Earth,” was given the big-screen treatment last year — billed as China’s first space-age blockbuster, it became one of the country’s highest grossing movies with over US$690 million domestically.

“Thrones” showrunners Benioff and Weiss signed a multi-year deal with Netflix last August to write, produce and direct new series and films.

Tuesday’s announcement is the first confirmed project to emerge from that deal, which was reportedly worth a nine-figure sum and followed an intense bidding war between major studios.

No date or casting was announced for the project.