Our faith in the power of the fan campaign has been restored. On June 1, Netflix announced the cancellation of its original sci-fi drama Sense8 after two seasons, much to the dismay of the show’s loyal fanbase. And despite a passionate fan campaign to #BringBackSense8, a show notable for its strong LGBTQ presence, Netflix politely insisted that no, Sense8 would definitely not be coming back.
But guess what? Just a few weeks later, Sense8 is now coming back!
Netflix announced on Thursday that while it wouldn’t renew the show for another season, Sense8 would get a two-hour finale special in 2018 to tie up loose ends. In a letter posted to the Sense8 Twitter account, series creator Lana Wachowski credited fans with getting the special made:
Friends kept calling from all over the world asking, “Isn’t there anything you can do?”
And the truth was, no. By myself, there was nothing I could do.
But just as the characters in our show discover that they are not alone, I too have learned that I am not just a me. I am also a we.
The passionate letters, the petitions, the collective voice that rose up like the fist of the Sun to fight for this show was beyond what anyone was expecting.
In this world it is easy to believe that you cannot make a difference: that when a government or an institution or coporation makes a decision, there is something irrevocable about the decision: that love is always less important than the bottom line.
But here is a gift from the fans of this show that I will carry forever in my heart: while it is often true those decisions are irreversible, it is not always true.
Not a bad way to wrap up Pride Month.
Read more in Slate:
- “Here’s the Best Queer Scene in Sense8”
- June Thomas on why Sense8 was the most overlooked show of 2015 for Slate’s TV Club
- “Sense8 Is Back, Preaching the Power of Empathy for Queers—and Everybody Else”
