Welcome to Queerty’s Looking Back 2017, an ongoing series featuring the best and brightest in queer entertainment that you may or may not have missed. Check back with us every day until New Years 2018 for a spotlight on all things entertaining magnificently queer.
Most tragic offing of queer-themed show: Sense8
Lana Wachowski loves to make headlines.
Between the lesbian noir thriller Bound, the runaway phenomenon of the Matrix movies, the disaster of Jupiter Ascending or becoming one of the first high-profile Hollywood celebrities to undergo gender transition (a move followed by sibling Lily), Wachowski has become something of a visionary, if unpredictable institution.
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Critics didn’t know what to make of Sense8, the Netflix series she co-created with sister Lily and Oscar-nominated sci-fi writer J. Michael Straczynski. The series itself, about a diverse group of 8 people psychically connected, attracted a strong fanbase. Hungry fans gobbled up the second season in 2017, only to meet with a bit of indigestion: Netflix canceled the series not long after its season 2 debut. A porn site actually offered to fund a third season for Netflix, something the streaming giant declined.
Related: Netflix just cancelled “Sense8”, so here’s that insanely hot beach scene to soften the blow
Needless, to say, fans just about rioted. Netflix never seemed comfortable with the show, which featured shocking violence and graphic scenes of full-frontal nudity during psychic orgies. If the show’s concentration on worldwide psychic connections played as something of a metaphor for the Internet though, Lana proved her prescient gifts yet again. Fan outrage actually inspired Netflix to green light a wrap-up movie, designed to bring closure to the show’s ongoing storylines. Call that a win for the good guys.
Still, the Wachowskis and Straczynski had wanted Sense8 to run five seasons, and with television still struggling with the diversity issue, the series offered a breath of fresh air. The conclusion film deserves mention as a win for fans, but the loss of the show in coming years can only be labeled a tragedy.
Sense8, we hardly knew ye…or the many sights of gorgeous flesh you loved to provide.
PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID
Do something on the phenomenon that is Brockhampton or prove how out of touch you are.
Kangol
I don’t think Queerty knows who they are, and won’t care because they don’t take lots of semi-nude IG photos. The music and their collective approach is really interesting, though.
JPDonahue
How about, instead of being an ass about it, suggest this ‘Brockhampton’ to the unknowing public.
“HEY! If you liked ‘Sense 8,’ you might enjoy this show too!”
I’m not out of touch because I haven’t heard of it.
There are many shows and movies and books and albums I’m not familiar with.
Evji108
I never really liked Sense8 that much myself. It was nice but not great, there was something awkward about it and I could never suspend disbelief. Sorry to see it go however.
I do wish Netflix would acquire more gay content in general. Always the same old stuff I’ve already watched.
chris33133
When I first saw Sense8, I was blown away by its opening scene as it switched among pictures taken in each of the show’s eight cities. That opening, alone, should have received a few Emmys.
But also, the more I watched, the more I thought: “How can they afford this elaborate production?’ The was, unfortunately: “they couldn’t.”
But that opening…..
Miss Understood
Jamie Clayton is a badass! Hope to see more of her on TV!