Whether you love them or hate them, the Wachowskis are always trying something new. Their sci-fi, culture-spanning Netflix show, Sense8, was one of their more successful projects but it seemed to keep getting derailed behind the scenes. However, the show has not one but two new release dates, the first for a Christmas special and the second for the next season.
For those not in the know, Sense8 is about eight individuals who were born in the same moment. Years later as adults, they become connected as a “cluster” where they can each mentally see and speak to each other, as well as trade skills. Of the main cast, there’s Will, a Chicago cop; Nomi, a trans hacker and computer genius; Wolfgang, a gangster and expert safe-cracker; Riley, a Icelandic DJ with a drug problem, Sun, a business woman who kick ass; Kala, a pharmacist search for what she wants from life; Lito, a gay Mexican actor in the closet; and Capheus, a Kenyan driver who gets in with the wrong people. However there’s an organization looking to kill them all, on top of all the weird predicaments they get themselves into.
The plot of the Christmas special is particularly vague: “The journey continues as these eight singular hearts and minds weave in and out of each other’s lives finding deeper connections, learning darker, more desperate secrets about one another and struggling to identify with more than just oneself.” Clearly, they are keep their lips sealed on what we might see. Season 2, which will have 10 episodes, is lacking any description.
There were rumors that the show would be cancelled due to a number of issues that plagued the second season. The biggest of these was the recasting of Capheus, as actor Aml Ameen left the show mid-production likely after butting heads with producer Lana Wachowski. Toby Onwumere will now play the role of the Kenyan van driver obsessed with Jean Claude Van Damme.
The Christmas special will hit Netflix on December 23, 2016 while Season 2 will arrive on May 10.