3 Body Problem is the most recent sci-fi show to successfully get a majority of the sci-fi fans in its hold. Created by the showrunners of Game of Thrones, David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, along with writer-cum-producer Alexander Woo, this one is about alien invasion and is adapted from the Chinese novel of the same name by Liu Cixin.
What’s more interesting is the fact that this series almost earned a cameo from none other than the former president of the United States of America, Barack Obama. However, even though he previously admitted that he was a noted fan of the novel, Obama ended up rejecting them, and now the showrunners are getting candid about it.
3 Body Problem Creators Get Candid About Barack Obama’s Cameo Rejection
Since the ex-president of the United States of America had previously expressed his interest in Liu Cixin’s three-volume science-fiction novel (more on this later), the creators of 3 Body Problem decided to approach him for a cameo role in the recently released series.
But rather than getting the acceptance they were expecting, the trio masterminds David Benioff, D. B. Weiss, and Alexander Woo instead ended up getting rejected. During a recent interview with Josh Horowitz on his Happy Sad Confused podcast, they shared about the same.
While Woo was the first to admit that bringing Obama onboard “was the idea,” Benioff was the one to reveal: “He rejected us flat out.” But the one who seemingly took this rejection in the best manner possible was Weiss, who shared with Josh Horowitz:
“Very nice, he was very nice about it. It was my favorite rejection letter I’ll ever get.”
Previously, in an interview with USA Today, the two masterminds behind Game of Thrones expressed something similar as well. As reported, Benioff said:
“(Obama) did sign a very funny note though, when we tried to get him for a cameo,” Benioff said, paraphrasing the missive. “It was to the effect of, ‘In case there ever is a real alien invasion, I think I should probably save myself for that crisis.’”
Adding to this was a comment from Weiss, who said: “He wants to keep his powder dry in case there’s a real thing.” Thus, because he was worried about aliens actually invading the earth just like they did in the saga, Obama turned down the offer for a cameo in the series!
Barack Obama Previously Admitted Being Interested in Three-Body Problem
Back in 2017, Obama got into an interview with The New York Times, where he discussed some of the fictional books he chose to escape to someplace else. One of these was none other than Liu Cixin’s Three-Body Problem.
As he shared with the interviewer:
“For a while, there was a three-volume science-fiction novel, the Three-Body Problem series, which was just wildly imaginative, really interesting. It wasn’t so much sort of character studies as it was just this sweeping [about the fate of the universe].”
Continuing, he had further expressed back then how he thought that the scope of that particular saga was truly “immense.”
“The scope of it was immense. So that was fun to read, partly because my day-to-day problems with Congress seem fairly petty — not something to worry about. Aliens are about to invade.”
Thus, ostensibly because of this, he was approached for a cameo in the series directed by Weiss, Woo, and Benioff. Nonetheless, Barack Obama‘s interest most certainly lay in the books and not live-action, so fans couldn’t really see him in the saga.
Even though Obama refused to appear for a cameo in it, you can still stream 3 Body Problem on Netflix.