Han Zhijie from Tencent Video Photo: Courtesy of Tencent Video

The first trailer of new Chinese sci-fi series Three-Body, adapted from Chinese writer Liu Cixin's renowned fiction The Three-Body Problem, was released on Tuesday. The show includes some classic lines of the original book that stun many netizens, in addition to the special effects and the performance of the cast.

The best-selling series of books, the Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy, is often referred to as The Three-Body Problem after the first book in the series helped Liu win a Hugo Award in 2015.

The series tells the story of a nanomaterials expert who discovers a mysterious countdown and finds himself under military investigation. To unravel the mystery, he enters the VR game Three-Body, developed by the secret organization ETO, and discovers the truth behind the deaths of dozens of scientists.

Some fans of the original book gave positive reviews after seeing the trailer as it shows the high quality of the series produced by Chinese video platform Tencent Video and starring Chinese actors Zhang Luyi, Yu Hewei and actresses Wang Ziwen and Li Xiaoran.

"I was stunned by the scenes in the trailer as they recreated the world I imagined when I read the book. It made me want to see the show as soon as possible," a Sina Weibo user commented.

Shi Wenxue, a cultural reviewer based in Beijing, told the Global Times that Liu single-handedly elevated Chinese science fiction to the world level and the book series is a proof. "The local adapted version has natural advantages in conveying the ideas in the original book and can be better suited to the thinking habits of Chinese people," Shi added.

Netflix also purchased the copyrights of the sci-fi masterpiece which might be released in 2023.

The specific release date of the series has not been announced while many netizens called on the earlier appearance on social media platform.

Other productions with different themes will be launched on Tencent Video in the second half of the year, including the third season of Ode to Joy, a story about the lives and challenges at work of five women who start living in the 22nd floor of a building called Ode to Joy. The period spy drama The Infiltrator and Bright Future, about the grassroots efforts of Mei Xiaoge and his colleagues uniting the people to develop Guangming County, will also be launched later this year.