An online petition to for the return of “Sense8” has garnered 93,000 signatures since news hit yesterday that Netflix’s globe-spanning, LGBT-inclusive, science fiction thriller series would not get a third season.
The series, created by “Matrix” directors Lana and Lilly Wachowski along with J. Michael Straczynski, has been celebrated for its message of global interconnectedness, racially inclusive cast, and multiple LGBTQ characters — including a prominent transgender character whose storyline does not merely revolve around their being trans.
“The cancellation of ‘Sense 8’ – season 3 has been completely unexpected,” reads the Change.org petition. “We don’t know any reasons yet, however it’s quite strange that a show that has received such positive response from a wide and heterogeneous audience, gets cancelled.”
Netflix notoriously does not release streaming numbers for any of its content, leaving the reasons for the cancellation murky. About a group of people who share mysterious visions around the world, the series shoots in multiple international locations. It is possible that high production costs outweighed even the very robust interest in the show.
The series joins a slew of progressive, inclusive series’ cancellations: Netflix’s “The Get Down,” ABC’s “The Real O’Neals,” and CBS’s “Doubt,” to name a few. No matter what happens, the petitioners are right: “‘Sense 8’ has given the world a new way of seeing others: with acceptance, love and understanding.”
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