Jonathan Pryce’s Mike Evans Is Awesome in 3 Body Problem
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WHILE IT'S HARD to compare anything at all to Game of Thrones, which was unquestionably a behemoth of television that may not have been touched in its magnitude of cultural mass or relevance in the time before or since, Netflix's 3 Body Problem comes from Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, and manages to include a ton of traits that we liked so much about the Thrones journey.
First and foremost, of course, those signatures come as part of the story—twists and turns, unexpected plot subversions, and a massive, world-encompassing scale are all a part of the 3 Body Problem recipe. But it's also just as fun on a simple level to see that Benioff and Weiss brought back a number of familiar Thrones faces to play brand new characters in 3 Body Problem. Perhaps the most notable is Liam Cunningham, who played the noble Ser Davos in Game of Thrones; in 3 Body, he plays Wade, a ruthless government official trying to save the world. John Bradley, who played Samwell Tarly in Thrones, also has a key role in 3 Body as the wealthy Jack Rooney.
But perhaps the most interesting turn from a Game of Thrones alum comes from the legendary Oscar-nominated actor Jonathan Pryce. Pryce has been known by genre fans for a long time—he starred in Terry Gilliam's Brazil and also appeared in the James Bond flick Tomorrow Never Dies and the Pirates of the Carribbean franchise—but he particularly made a mark as the complex and corrupted High Sparrow in the middle Thrones seasons.
In 3 Body Problem, he plays Mike Evans—a similarly complex (and very, very wealthy) man whose role in the show is relatively small, but Pryce plays him with enough skill that he becomes one of the most memorable parts of the entire show. How you react to Mike Evans, ultimately, may pave the way for your ultimate philosophy on 3 Body Problem overall.
Who is Mike Evans in 3 Body Problem?
Mike Evans—not to be confused with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers star wide receiver of the same name—comes into the story due to his life (as a young man played by Ben Schnetzer) intertwining with that of Ye Wenjie (played in her younger years by Zine Tseng and as an adult by Rosalind Chao). Ye was sent to a a Chinese government-led search for extraterrestrial life site to serve out her years after witnessing her father's murder during the Cultural Revolution; she was furious not only at the agencies and powers that stole her father from her, but also had completely lost faith in humanity altogether. During her time at the site, she met a young Mike Evans, who—while very wealthy after inheriting his father's oil baron fortune—has expressed a similar distaste for people and become a very radical environmentalist, wanting to save our resources and not caring all too much about those existing on the world themselves.
The Three-Body Problem
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As we enter the present day, we first learn about Evans when we see him at the funeral for Vera Ye (Vedette Lim), who is one of the many scientists driven to suicide by the San-Ti powers; we later learn Vera was Mike Evans and Ye Wenjie's daughter. We also learn through scenes with Wade and Da Shi (Benedict Wong) that Evans is a major man of mystery, and someone deeply suspected of being treasonous toward the human race.
In a series of scenes that are tweaked a bit from their depiction in Cixin Liu's book, we see inside Mike Evans's office aboard his ship, the Judgment Day, where he's developed a working colony full of men, women, and children who are all devoted to the San-Ti.
In a way, how you feel about Mike Evans is ultimately the answer of how you feel about 3 Body Problem; it's without question that we have abused the resources of the earth, and perhaps the planet has been destroyed beyond repair. But is there any chance for redemption, and fixing the damage we've done? Or, like Evans, should we just fully jump ship and devote ourselves to some other greater universal power? That's the question at its core. And it's what makes Evans either a formidable villain, or a morally-complicated figure worth hearing out—depending on where you fall.
Pryce is tremendous in his scenes communicating with the extraterrestrials through what looks like an old-timey radio, trying his best to meet them on their level and be fair, all while reeking of just a bit of desperation with each and every time he calls them "My lord." Watching the Mike Evans scenes in 3 Body Problem makes it exactly clear why you hire an actor as good as Jonathan Pryce—he's just that good, and just that compelling, even with relatively limited screen time.
By the time Evans's part in the series is done, we're pleased with what we got, but actually wind up even wishing we got more.
Mike Evans is played by Jonathan Pryce
Jonathan Pryce is a highly-decorated actor of stage and screen who has been working hard at his craft for more than 50 years and has even been knighted.
His breakthrough role came in Terry Gillam's bananas 1985 film Brazil, but movie fans may also recognize him as the villainous Elliot Carver in the 1997 James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies or his role as Governor Weatherby Swann in the first three Pirates of the Caribbean films. He's also had roles in movies like Glengarry Glen Ross, Ronin, and earned his first Oscar nomination for playing Pope Francis in the 2019 film The Two Popes.
TV fans may also be familiar with Pryce's work. He appeared in Game of Thrones as the religious zealot antagonist the High Sparrow, appeared alongside Gary Oldman in Slow Horses, and alongside Tom Hardy in Taboo. He also played a vital role in the acclaimed 2015 adaptation of Wolf Hall.
More recently, he became the final actor to play Prince Philip in Netflix's hit series The Crown, taking over the role that previously won actor Tobias Menzies an Emmy.
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