3 Body Problem stars reflect on season one ending

Watch: 3 Body Problem cast discuss season one's ending

Warning: Article contains spoilers for 3 Body Problem

3 Body Problem's first season may end with humanity in crisis, but for the cast the show's final moments are "hopeful" and should be seen as such by viewers, they tell Yahoo UK.

The Netflix series, which premiered on Thursday, 21 March, follows a group of scientists who find themselves at the heart of a conspiracy set off years earlier during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. The actions of one person, Ye Wenjie, has led to an alien species discovering Earth, and they are now on their way to make the planet their home.

3 Body Problem ending explained

Even though it won't be for another 400 years that the aliens arrive, humanity is at a loss at what to do especially when the aliens call us "bugs". But not all hope is lost, as the show ends with the remaining characters preparing to get to work in order to find a way to save humanity from possible extinction.

Jess Hong, who plays one of the remaining characters Jin Cheng, tells Yahoo how she appreciated the note that the show ended on, saying: "I believe that's a hopeful ending, kind of acknowledging, 'OK, we're bugs, but we're not doomed'.

"That's actually the first thing I wrote after the table read, I was taking little notes and then writing for the last episode: 'Bugs, yes. Doomed, no!'"

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The show's season one finale ends with Da Shi (Benedict Wong) telling Jin and Saul (Jovan Adepo) that bugs are resilient and have always endured no matter what humanity has thrown at them to try and eradicate them. In a similar way, humanity can do the same when faced with an alien threat.

Reflecting on his speech, Wong shares: "I mean for for Da Shi, he's there to pick them up again. They're so down in the dumps and lost aren't they? I mean that's his job, to put them back on track and the analogy of the the bugs that can't be crushed."

Another interesting aspect of the series is how Liam Cunningham's Thomas Wade, who is leading humanity's efforts to find a way to kill the aliens, is threatened directly by them. The aliens warn that he will do what they say or face the consequences.

Of this twist, Cunningham says: "That's a battle that's just has been lost, the war continues. I think that's incredibly important, and they're relentless.

"[Da Shi and Wade] are just absolutely relentless, something doesn't work [then] something else will. And I really like that about them, and you could you could see at the end of the show that Jess's character, Jin, is devastated, but it's very important not to get dispirited about these things."

Alex Sharp and Eiza González, who play Will and Auggie respectively, also appreciated the hopeful note that the show ends on, as they felt it was an important message that could be applied to real life too.

Sharp says: "It was really exciting and I thought it was really beautiful the way that they used the cicada [and] flipped the meaning for the characters from being something negative and vulnerable that's being attacked to seeing the beauty in it, and it ends on an optimistic note in a way. I mean the last words, I think, are 'we've got a lot of work to do.'"

Read more: 3 Body Problem star hails 'brave' depiction of Chinese Cultural Revolution

"And we do," González chimes in. "I think as humanity is progressing and moving into a different time and space —especially with technology and AI and everything that we're experiencing— I think that more than ever we have a lot of work to do as a whole, as a team, and unite.

"Hopefully the show brings an awareness because there's so many things you can pull out of the show and the thoughts that come out of the show, but maintaining what the real intention of the show is a unison, being a one beating heart is what really will make a difference. We desperately need to."

Elsewhere in the series, viewers watched as Will’s brain was sent towards the aliens through the Stepping Stone programme — a series of nuclear blasts to bring him up to beyond light speed. Sadly it went wrong, meaning the spaceship containing Will’s cryogenically frozen brain went off course.

Even so, Sharp is hopeful about what will happen to his character. He joked that Will is “out there hitchhiking, saying ‘someone pick me up,’” before adding: “I think it speaks to what he's willing to do for love, to risk something I think I would find worse, much more terrifying than death, which is the the potential of consciously or semi-consciously flowing through infinite space and time.

“Which sounds pretty horrendous. Infinite, could you imagine? I mean I'm an overthinker, give me five minutes alone and I'm just overthinking the hell out of everything. So I think it's space and time by yourself… that's like literal hell. So, I hope he hitches a ride.”

Zine Tseng, who plays young Ye Wenjie, says she hopes to see Will and Jin reunite one day. Telling Hong: “you broke Will’s heart, that broke my heart. So I wish for a happy ending for her and Will.”

3 Body Problem is out now on Netflix.

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