Sense8 might actually get a third season

Last week during Vancouver Pride, we missed a big announcement: Sense8 co-creator Lana Wachowski has claimed that she's already writing a third season of the cult, globe-spanning sci-fi Netflix series.

While being interviewed for a Facebook Live session with Sense8 actors Brian J. Smith (who plays Will Gorski), Toby Onwumere (Capheus "Van Damn" Onyango), and Max Riemelt (Wolfgang Bogdanow), the showrunner revealed that in addition to a two-hour series finale, she’s also writing an entire third season.

Sense8 follows eight men and women all over the world (from Korea, to America and Kenya) who suddenly find they are connected through their minds and can visit each other. They quickly become embroiled in a dangerous game of love, emotion and terror. It's invigorating, if sometimes slightly cheesy, stuff.

Speaking in the third person, Wachowski, who helmed the series alongside her sister Lilly Wachowski, said: “She’s writing… because she believes so much in the fans – that they’re going to go out and actually create so many more fans – Lana’s actually going ahead and writing the entire Season 3.”

Sense8 was cancelled earlier this year, with Netflix citing the cost of production being too high. “The audience was very passionate, but not large enough to support the economics of something that big, even on our platform,” said Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos. 

It's been reported that each episode costs around £7million ($9million) to make, and for a time, despite outraged articles articles and a petition that racked up over half a million views in a few days, it looked like Sense8 would die on an unfulfilling cliffhanger.

However, in late June it was announced that they would be given a two-hour special to round it up next year. “Improbably, unforeseeably, your love has brought Sense8 back to life,” Lana Wachowski wrote in an open letter. “I could kiss every single one of you!”

That the series might be given a new lease of life beyond its original run and the special is incredibly exciting. This is a show that's radical in many ways, not least for its nuanced depictions of sexuality, race, and impressive special effects.

Wachowski having written the script is a small step in the right direction. And as she said herself, she believes in the fan's abilities to push for it to be produced. Bring on Season 3!