Sense8


Sense8 is an American science fiction drama television series created by Lana and Lilly Wachowski and J. Michael Straczynski for Netflix. The production companies behind Sense8 included the Wachowskis' Anarchos Productions, Straczynski's Studio JMS, and Georgeville Television, with Unpronounceable Productions having been set up specifically for the show.
The show's first season introduced a multinational ensemble cast, with Aml Ameen, Doona Bae, Jamie Clayton, Tina Desai, Tuppence Middleton, Max Riemelt, Miguel Ángel Silvestre, and Brian J. Smith portraying eight strangers from different parts of the world who suddenly discover that they are "sensates": human beings who are mentally and emotionally linked. Freema Agyeman, Terrence Mann, Anupam Kher, Naveen Andrews, and Daryl Hannah also star. In the second season, Toby Onwumere replaces Ameen. The show explores issues related to identity, sexuality, gender, and politics that its creators felt had been rarely addressed on television. Its central theme is an embrace of empathy across difference.
All episodes of the first season of Sense8 were written by the Wachowskis and Straczynski; in the second season, Lilly Wachowski took a break from the show, and the episodes were written by just Lana Wachowski and Straczynski, with the exception of the series finale which was written by Lana, David Mitchell, and Aleksandar Hemon. Most episodes were directed by the Wachowskis, with the remainder being divided between their frequent collaborators James McTeigue, Tom Tykwer, and Dan Glass. Sense8 was filmed almost entirely on location in a multitude of cities around the world.
The first season, consisting of 12 episodes, became available for streaming on Netflix on June 5, 2015, and was met with generally favorable critical reception. It was praised for its representation of LGBTQ characters and themes, winning the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Drama Series. It was also recognized with a Location Managers Guild award for its use of locations as an integral part of the story, and a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music.
The second season began with a two-hour Christmas special in December 2016, with the remaining 10 episodes released in May 2017. However, the following month Netflix announced that they had cancelled the series, which had ended with a cliffhanger in expectation of a third season, then under negotiation. In response to criticism of the cancellation, especially with an unresolved story, Netflix produced a two-and-a-half-hour series finale that was released on June 8, 2018. The season was overall met with positive critical reception and received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series, and two nominations by the GLAAD Media Awards for Outstanding Drama Series and Outstanding TV Movie or Limited Series for the season proper and series finale, respectively.

Plot

The story of Sense8 begins when the psychic connection of eight strangers of a variety of walks of life from different parts of the world is "birthed" by a woman called Angelica, who kills herself to avoid capture by a man called "Whispers". The eight discover that they form a cluster of "sensates": human beings who are mentally and emotionally linked, can sense and communicate with one another, and can share their knowledge, languages, and skills.
In the first season, the eight—Capheus, Sun, Nomi, Kala, Riley, Wolfgang, Lito, and Will—are shown trying to both live their everyday lives and figure out how and why they are connected. Meanwhile, a sensate named Jonas, who was involved with Angelica, comes to their aid, while the sinister Biologic Preservation Organization and Whispers, a high-ranking sensate inside BPO, attempt to hunt them down.
In the second season, the eight have grown accustomed to their connection and help one another daily. They learn more about sensates and how to use their powers as well as the history and goals of BPO and Angelica's involvement with it. They also meet other sensates, not all of whom are friendly. At the same time, Jonas attempts to both aid them and look after himself after being captured by Whispers, who is now involved in a cat-and-mouse game with Will, each trying to outsmart the other.
In the series finale, the cluster and the people closest to them meet up in person to save Wolfgang who has been captured by BPO. To that end, the cluster has kidnapped Whispers and Jonas to use them as a bargaining chip and source of information, respectively. The heroes discover the personal motivations of the two men and Angelica, meet potential allies, and deal with the Chairman of BPO, who launches a global attack against sensates and their allies.

Cast

The August 8th cluster

  • Aml Ameen and Toby Onwumere as Capheus "Van Damn" Onyango, a matatu driver in Nairobi who is trying to earn money to buy HIV/AIDS medication for his mother.
  • Doona Bae as Sun Bak, daughter of a powerful Seoul business executive and a burgeoning star in the underground kickboxing world.
  • Jamie Clayton as Nomi Marks, a trans woman hacktivist and blogger living in San Francisco with her girlfriend Amanita.
  • Tina Desai as Kala Dandekar, a university-educated pharmacist and devout Hindu in Mumbai who is engaged to marry a man she learns to love.
  • Tuppence Middleton as Riley Blue, an Icelandic DJ living in London who is trying to escape a tragic past.
  • Max Riemelt as Wolfgang Bogdanow, a Berlin locksmith and safe-cracker who has unresolved conflicts with his late father and participates in Russian organized crime.
  • Miguel Ángel Silvestre as Lito Rodriguez, a closeted actor of Spanish background living in Mexico City with his boyfriend Hernando.
  • Brian J. Smith as Will Gorski, a Chicago police officer haunted by an unsolved murder from his childhood.

    Other regulars

  • Freema Agyeman as Amanita "Neets" Caplan, Nomi's girlfriend, who later becomes an ally for the new sensates.
  • Terrence Mann as Milton Bailey "Whispers" Brandt, a sensate who turned against his own kind and who is a high-ranking member of the Biologic Preservation Organization, an organization determined to neutralize sensates.
  • Anupam Kher as Sanyam Dandekar, Kala's loving father, a chef and restaurant owner.
  • Naveen Andrews as Jonas Maliki, a sensate from a different cluster who wants to help the newly born cluster of sensates.
  • Daryl Hannah as Angelica "Angel" Turing, a sensate from the same cluster as Jonas, who becomes the "mother" of the new sensates' cluster as she activates their psychic connection.

    Episodes

Season 1 (2015)

Season 2 (2016–18)

Production

Conception and development

According to the Wachowskis, the origins of Sense8 date back several years before the announcement of the show to "a late-night conversation about the ways technology simultaneously unites and divides us". When deciding to create a television series, Lana chose to brainstorm ideas with Straczynski because of his extensive experience working with the format, by inviting him to her house in San Francisco. After several days of discussion, they decided on creating a show that would explore the relationship between empathy and evolution in the human race, necessitating filming on location in several countries over the world. The title of the show was thought up by Lana on their second day of brainstorming, as a play on the word sensate and the notion of eight main characters.
On October 2, 2012, Variety first reported the existence of the show. The Wachowskis and Straczynski had written three hour-long spec scripts, and were attempting to shop them around. Their first meeting with potential buyers was with Netflix. The Wachowskis and Straczynski talked to them about subjects such as gender, identity, secrecy, and privacy. Netflix announced that they had ordered a 10-episode first season for the series on March 27, 2013, which during filming was extended to 12. Straczynski and the Wachowskis mapped out five seasons worth of stories for the series from the beginning, including the series' final episode. Lilly Wachowski, after completing her gender transition, decided to take some time off and did not return as writer or director for the second season, although she remained active as co-creator.
Producer Roberto Malerba has disclosed that the first season had an average budget of about $4.5 million per episode, and the second season $9 million per episode.

Writing

Initial writing for the first season was split between the Wachowskis and Straczynski. The show was transformed when they decided to limit the storytelling, with the exception of the opening scene of the first episode, to the perspective of the eight characters. Lana Wachowski, a trans woman, has written her first transgender character in her career in the series: Nomi Marks. For that she partly used her own experiences. Jamie Clayton, who plays Nomi, has provided the example of a scene where a young Nomi is bullied by boys in a gym shower, as a scene that was based on experiences from Lana's life. Freema Agyeman, who plays Nomi's girlfriend Amanita, has shared that her character was based heavily on Lana's wife, Karin Winslow.
Unlike the first season, where the Wachowskis and Straczynski split the number of scripts in half and worked remotely from each other, writing for the second season was performed by Lana and Straczynski by collaborating inside a shared writers' room. David Mitchell and Aleksandar Hemon worked as additional writers on the second season and were credited as "consultants". They spent a week in September 2015 with Lana, Straczynski, and script supervisor Julie Brown, proposing to them situations to be further developed by Lana and Straczynski. Later, once filming began, Lana did a lot of rewrites on a daily basis as she got inspired by the locations, actors, and so on, even on the set. When the series finale special was announced, Lana, Mitchell, and Hemon returned as writers.