Chinese Exec Sentenced To Death For 3 Body Problem Producer’s Poisoning (Image credit: Netflix)
Xu Yao, a 43-year-old former Chinese executive at Yoozoo Games, was sentenced to death for poisoning the founder of the company Lin Qi in December 2020. The Chinese company gave Netflix the right to produce an adaptation of the sci-fi trilogy The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu. The series 3 Body Problem has cracked the streaming platform’s top 10 charts since its debut on March 21.
Former executive receives death sentence for poisoning boss
According to a report in Deadline, Xu Yao poisoned the food and beverages of 39-year-old company founder Lin Qi in 2020. Four other people also fell ill but did not die. Lin Qi reportedly had a cup of poisoned pu-erh tea and died around 10 days later.
Chinese news outlets reported that the disgruntled employee Xu Yao tested different poisons on small animals in a temporary lab in Shanghai. Xu Yao, a lawyer, is said to have became angry after a demotion and pay cut. One outlet, Phoenix News, stated, “The plot is as bizarre as a Hollywood blockbuster, and the technique is professional enough to be called the Chinese version of Breaking Bad.”
Billionaire Lin Qi was a video game tycoon who founder Youzu Interactive aka Yoozoo Games. He worked with Netflix and Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and DB Weiss to adapt The Three-Body Problem for the screen. He never got to see the series being hailed by critics and international audiences. His company also developed Game of Thrones: Winter Is Coming, a game based on the HBO series.
About 3 Body Problem
Inspired by the Chinese novel, the sci-fi series revolves around a young woman’s fateful decision in 1960s China that has consequences across space and time into the present day. This causes the laws of nature to bend, and a group of scientists must come together with an eccentric detective to take on this new threat to humanity.
The diverse and international ensemble cast of 3 Body Problem features Jovan Adepo, John Bradley, Rosalind Chao, Liam Cunningham, Eiza González, Jess Hong, Marlo Kelly, Alex Sharp, Sea Shimooka, Zine Tseng, Saamer Usmani, Benedict Wong and Jonathan Pryce. Rosalind Chao and Zine Tseng play the older and younger versions of Ye Wenjie, the key player of 3 Body Problem whose one choice echoes through time. Alex Sharp, Jess Hong, Jovan Adepo, Eiza González, John Bradley are the Oxford Five scientists who team with Dr Strange star Wong to investigate this matter.