Two and a half years ago, Jess Hong hit the big time. Like most streaming series, however, it took awhile to reap the benefits. In October 2021, and only two years out of college, the New Zealand actress was cast in David Benioff and Daniel Weiss‘ English-language adaptation of Liu Cixin’s acclaimed Sci-Fi novel “3 Body Problem.” At the time, Hong had just three local television credits to her resume. Now, millions of viewers across the globe know her as Dr. Jin Cheng, a pivotal character at the center of Netflix’s latest hit franchise and, almost as important, potential Best Drama Series nominee.
READ MORE: “3 Body Problem” review
During a conversation last week, Hong reflected on her bewilderment at landing the role, acting alongside Alex Sharp for some of the program’s most emotional scenes, why Jin is so committed to the cause, where season two might go, and much, much more.
Please note: There are major spoilers for the first season of “3 Body Problem” in the context of this interview.
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The Playlist: So this project comes your way. What were your initial thoughts?
Jess Hong: Oh my gosh, I am a Kiwi girl who never thought she had a shot in this universe with something of this quality. I remarked first on the quality of the script. I mean, I had these two random scenes, one kind of absurd fun scene from the game world, I later found out. And then one really beautiful nuanced two-hander scene. And I was like, “Is this the same show? Wow, this is crazy.” And you send out a self-tape into the ether, never expecting to hear back anything. So the fact that they wanted to see more of me, I was like, “Well, you know what? It’s great to get it this far. It’s great to make it to round two. And that’s where it ends for me.” And then they wanted to meet me and then they wanted to keep going. And I was like, “O.K., you know what? It’s great to get this far. Maybe I’ll make it to the final three. Maybe I’ll make it to the final two.” Oh my gosh. Every step of the way, I was just kind of grateful and humbled. I couldn’t believe that they actually wanted me.
When they approached you, did you know it was “3 Body Problem”? Or were they super secretive about it?
It was “Untitled Benioff.” So, I soon found out who was attached and who had created this project. But the book series hadn’t been so big in New Zealand, so I’d never heard of it. And then I found out later when I booked the gig, “Oh, it’s based on these unadaptable books by the way.” I was like, “Oh, oh, O.K. Cool, cool, cool. I better go read those.”
Did you feel you had to read them even though your character is an amalgamation of three different characters? Or so I’ve been told.
From my knowledge, her complete kind of personality comes from the third book, and she is just one person there, but her plot line is half of the guy from the first book, and there might be other influences there. And then of course, [Benioff and Weiss] are really amazing at meeting you, observing you, and kind of folding you own unique qualities into the character as well. So yeah, she is an amalgamation of reality and fiction.
What was the toughest sort of nut for you to crack in terms of playing your character?
I’m not a scientist, believe it or not. [Laughs.] I have a Bachelor of Arts, so that was not the same thing. I definitely found it quite intense to try and first of all, learn the dialogue with the science, but you want to understand what’s coming out of your mouth. So, I did just a little bit of research so at least I could understand the theories that she’s talking about and the people that she is referring to. That was a different type of research that I hadn’t done before. And then the hardest thing really was just the stamina to shoot for nine months. We went pretty hard.
Was it the toughest project you’ve done so far in your career?
For sure, yeah, it was the longest and the hardest.
When you say stamina in that in the sense that, I mean you aren’t in every single scene, but did you feel like it was just the length of how much you had to shoot the show?
Yeah, I think it was the longest thing that I’ve ever worked on is, well, actually I did work on something for eight months, but that was like a kid’s show tour. It was nice. And in terms of on screen, literally nothing more than a couple of months. So, the longevity of the whole shoot process. And then there were months at a time where I was on every day, and especially towards the end when we went into six-day and seven-day weeks. It got pretty intense.
When you got the initial eight scripts, was there one scene or sequence that you most excited about?
There were two different versions of my excitement. The first was “How are they going to pull off all the game sequences because there is some crazy visual stuff happening.” At one point, Jin and Jack are supposed to fly in the air. I’m like, “How are we going to do that? Oh, I guess on harnesses, but I dunno.” So I was really excited to see how that would play out mechanically. And then I was most excited for just those beautiful dramatic scenes, the two-handers between Jin and Will at the hospital [and] on the beach, which were actually the scenes that I auditioned with. I just love the way they write relationships and character development. I was really excited to tell her whole story arc.
Those scenes of reveal Will’s unrequited love for Jin. Did you guys have time to rehearse them on your own?
We had one rehearsal on set, but luckily I felt a good connection with Alex, and he is such a generous person and actor. He actually reached out to me and to all of us, I think individually, and was like, “Hey, you want to grab a drink? You want to chat about this over something?” And we would constantly be in dialogue with each other, even when we’re not shooting our stuff, we’re shooting separately, but we might meet up in the green room or we might just kind of see each other around and have chats. We talked a lot more about their backstory and what we think they’ve been through so far. And then the magic is really finding something organic and fresh in the moment.
One of the more interesting storylines that I’m assuming will be revisited in season two because there better be a season two…
Same.
…is Jin’s friend Auggie played by Eiza González. During the season she leaves the Staircase Project because she can’t work for the government body anymore. She can’t justify it after what happens in Panama with her technology. I’m curious, how did you justify your character’s willingness to still be part of this, even if it wasn’t potentially the most ethical way forward?
Well, one thing is Jin wasn’t there for the Panama sequence. She doesn’t have the trauma of that actually happening in front of her eyes. But also she’s someone that is much more forward-thinking in terms of she’s thinking about the future, she’s thinking about progress. She’s thinking about what are we going to do in 390 years just before they come. And she wants to solve all of the problems that are in front of her right there to impact future generations. Whereas Eiza’s character, Auggie, is really thinking about the present moment, the communities, and the people that exist today. And I think that’s where their ideals really clash. So for Jin, it’s just like, “Are you crazy? What about all of those people, the millions and billions of people to come?” And she’s like, “Are you crazy? What about the billions of people right now?” So they can never agree on that, but that’s right, they still love each other.
Did David and Daniel give you guys any hints of where they might take the story in season two?
Ooh, well, there’s a second book
True, but they have sort of mixed the books up a little bit, am I wrong?
A little bit. The plot from the first book is essentially as it is. It’s more like some character backstory or some important character moments got brought forward in order for it to make sense. I wish I was better at interrogating people. I would’ve asked them all this as well, but I’m really bad. I just, I’m like, “Oh wow, how’s your day going?” [Laughs.]
That’s O.K. [Laughs.] The show has been a big hit globally for Netflix. Did your Instagram followers jump to an insane amount that you can’t believe? Do you have people sending you fan art? What has that experience been like?
The followers have been kind of going crazy, which is weird for me. Social media was never my forte to begin with, and now I’m kind of learning how to maximize it, I guess. It’s all pretty strange to me. I’m just really grateful that these people, strangers around the world, feel so compelled that they want to send me a message. And it’s all been very, very positive. It’s been like a sweet couple from Sweden saying, “Oh, we just finished the whole show in two days and we really hope for season two as well and love your work.” It’s just very, very cute stuff that I’ve, yeah, I’ve never experienced that kind of bubbly sensation of suddenly 10 messages a day saying that you are amazing.
10 years from now, you will be doing a Q&A for something and someone will stand up and say that you made them want to be a scientist because they related to Jin in “3 Body Problem.”
I tell you what, one of my favorite bits of feedback was from Becky. I forget her last name at the moment, but she’s an actual astrophysicist, and she came along to the London premiere and came up to me quickly in between things and was like, “By the way, thank you. Because I’ve never seen myself represented like that as in a scientist and intellectual character who’s just a human being who’s just like a person with concerns and relationships and friendships and all of these things as opposed to some idea.” I think that was really powerful for me.
After nine months of shooting, once you finally saw the episodes, what surprised you the most?
I think I was surprised that I was still so compelled and enthralled by the whole thing because spent nine months with this material. I know what’s going to happen, and yet Panama happens and I’m still like, “No, not the screaming!” And it was so bad because I was alone in my room. I think that’s the power that [Benioff and Weiss] have though. They know how to envision how the end result will affect people. So, the fact that even from those draft scripts early on, I was crying alone with the characters and laughing and gasping right up until the end product. That’s just genius to me.
“3 Body Problem” is available worldwide on Netflix