‘3 Body Problem’ Star Alex Sharpe On the Emotional, Physical Journey To Play Dr. Will Downing

Netflix’s 3 Body Problem features some of the most eye-popping and incredibly well integrated special effects you’re likely to see in current television. Based on the novels by Liu Cixin, the drama series combines complex physics concepts with high-tech virtual reality in addition to other incredibly advanced technology on top of an alien invasion. For the tech and science-minded watchers, 3 Body Problem does not disappoint.

But none of it would ultimately resonate with viewers if all of the technology on display weren’t grounded in real human emotion. In the human experience. If we didn’t care about the characters, then why should we watch the series?

Fortunately, we do care about the characters, a great deal as it turns out. At the top of that list is Alex Sharpe’s Will Downing who, near the start of the series, finds out he has terminal pancreatic cancer. Over the 8 episodes, Sharpe’s Will goes on an incredibly emotional and harrowing journey as he stares down death and finds a way to make his life count for something.

Quite the journey for a young actor only on his second television series.

“I remember reading the scripts for the first time — I received all eight at once and was blown away by them — and being really struck by how how singular his journey was. He’s sort of a character that just loses everything,” Sharpe shared. I’m not definitely, as a person, at peace with my own mortality. So what journey would I have to go on in order to do the work that I feel like the character deserves? I had to get quite creative about how I approached it, and it was a huge challenge. But it was quite thrilling.”

One of the major challenges of the role was to physically represent someone dying from pancreatic cancer. Sharpe, a naturally in-shape actor, definitely doesn’t resemble someone near death, so he had to undergo an extensive amount of research and a special diet to accurately depict the condition. Sharpe found that, when he lost additional body weight, his physicality changed significantly. It altered the way he walked and talked.

It also changed his own psychology and how he interacted with the world on a daily basis. Director Minkie Spiro recalls working with Sharpe and needing to pause filming when Sharpe’s lack of calories impacted his ability to film. Granted, no actor could truly understand the presence of someone dying, but Sharpe did reach out to death doulas, or individuals trained to care for and comfort the dying. The experience, according to Sharpe, changed his life forever.

“[Death doulas] are so full of life and light and are loving and positive. I get emotional even thinking about them, just them as people making the choice to dedicate their life to doing that and doing it really well,” Sharpe shared, recommending we all watch death doula Alua Arthur.

In facing the end of his life, Sharpe’s Will also comes to face his undying love for Dr. Jin Cheng (Jess Hong). This is a man who, knowing he was going to die, gives everything away to her because he loves her. In episode six “The Stars Our Destination,” Will decides to overlook his intense pain and journey to tell Jin that he loves her. As he rounds the corner to her apartment, he sees her embracing her boyfriend. The moment passing, Will leaves to continue on a journey that will lead to the end of his life.

The scene is quick, but it’s beautifully directed by Spiro and acted by Sharpe.

“I was pretty exhausted at the time. That was helpful for what I was doing for the part of Will, for scenes like that, that are quite physical and don’t really have any language. You have to communicate so much just by walking down the aisle of a train and sitting down. How can you with no words just show what it means — the anguish and the uncertainty of the situation, the physical pain, the emotional pain, the exhaustion, but also the hope. If there’s no hope, then that moment when he sees them together won’t be impactful. You have to earn that by having him have some hope for his heart to be broken.”

3 Body Problem streams exclusively on Netflix.