Sense8

Sense8 (2015–2018) is an American science-fiction drama series created by Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski and J. Michael Straczynski for Netflix. The series follows eight strangers from different parts of the world who discover that they are mentally and emotionally connected as a cluster of “sensates”. Will is a police officer in Chicago, Riley is an Icelandic DJ connected to London and Reykjavík, Nomi is a hacker in San Francisco, Lito is an actor in Mexico City, Wolfgang is a safecracker in Berlin, Kala is a pharmacist in Mumbai, Capheus is a bus driver in Nairobi, and Sun is a businesswoman and martial artist in Seoul. As they begin to share each other’s skills, memories and senses, they are drawn into a larger conflict with the Biologic Preservation Organization and the hunter known as Whispers. The series combines science fiction, action, romance, identity drama and global ensemble storytelling, with its emotional centre built around empathy, chosen family, sexuality, politics and the idea that human connection can cross every border.

Sense8 was filmed on an unusually international scale, with the production travelling to many of the cities where the story is set. The first season was filmed in Berlin, Chicago, London, Mexico City, Mumbai, Nairobi, Reykjavík, San Francisco and Seoul, allowing each of the eight main characters to be rooted in a real urban environment rather than a generic studio version of another country. San Francisco gives Nomi’s story its Pride, Castro and activist atmosphere, while Chicago supplies Will’s police world and the series’ American urban base. Berlin is central to Wolfgang’s storyline, with clubs, streets, apartments and criminal spaces giving his part of the story a colder European edge. Mexico City is tied to Lito’s acting career and public life, Mumbai to Kala’s family, faith and wedding material, Nairobi to Capheus, the “Van Damn” bus and the city’s traffic and neighbourhood energy, Seoul to Sun’s corporate and action-driven world, and Reykjavík to Riley’s past and Icelandic landscape. Later episodes expanded the production even further, adding Amsterdam, The Hague, Utrecht, Positano, São Paulo, Los Angeles, Malta, Argyll in Scotland, Chippenham, Paris, Brussels and Naples. The series often used real events and real public spaces, including San Francisco Pride, Chicago’s Fourth of July celebrations, Mumbai’s Ganesh Chaturthi, a lucha libre event in Mexico City, the Rijksmuseum and Paradiso in Amsterdam, São Paulo Pride and fireworks near the Eiffel Tower for the finale. This gives Sense8 one of the strongest location identities of any modern streaming series: its world is not built around a single city, but around the contrast and connection between many cities, where streets, temples, clubs, museums, beaches, estates, airports, homes and crowds all become part of the same shared human network.