The second and final season of Sense8, an American science fiction drama television series created by Lana and Lilly Wachowski and J. Michael Straczynski, follows eight strangers from different parts of the world who suddenly become "sensates"; human beings who are mentally and emotionally linked. The season was produced for Netflix by Lana Wachowski and her wife's Venus Castina Productions and Straczynski's Studio JMS, along with Georgeville Television and Elizabeth Bay Productions. Unpronounceable Productions was set up to oversee production for the show since the first season.
A multinational ensemble cast starring Doona Bae, Jamie Clayton, Tina Desai, Tuppence Middleton, Toby Onwumere, Max Riemelt, Miguel Ángel Silvestre, and Brian J. Smith portray the suddenly connected strangers. Onwumere replaced season one star Aml Ameen, who left the show in March 2016 during its filming. Freema Agyeman, Terrence Mann, Naveen Andrews, Daryl Hannah, and Anupam Kher also star. The episodes' scripts were written by Lana Wachowski and Straczynski, with the exception of the series finale which was written by Lana, David Mitchell, and Aleksandar Hemon. The majority of them were directed by Lana Wachowski, with the remainder being divided between the Wachowskis' frequent collaborators James McTeigue, Tom Tykwer, and Dan Glass. It was filmed in Belgium, Brazil, France, Germany, India, Italy, Kenya, Malta, Mexico, the Netherlands, South Korea, the UK, and the US.
On August 8, 2015, Netflix announced that it had renewed the show for a second season. Netflix released the first episode of the second season, a two-hour Christmas special, on December 23, 2016; the remaining 10 episodes of the season were released on May 5, 2017. Following Netflix's decision to cancel the series, a two-and-a-half-hour finale was released on June 8, 2018, as the twelfth episode of the season. The season was overall met with positive critical reception and received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series (One Hour) and two nominations by the GLAAD Media Awards for Outstanding Drama Series and Outstanding TV Movie or Limited Series for the season proper and series finale, respectively.
Cast
Main
The August 8th cluster Doona Bae as Sun Bak, daughter of a powerful Seoul businessman and a burgeoning star in the underground kickboxing world. Jaein Lee portrays a young Sun. Jamie Clayton as Nomi Marks, a trans woman hacktivist and blogger living in San Francisco with her girlfriend Amanita. She chose the name Nomi to stand for "Know Me". Tina Desai as Kala Rasal (née Dandekar), a university-educated pharmacist and devout Hindu in Mumbai who is engaged to marry a man she does not love. Tuppence Middleton as Riley Blue (née Gunnarsdóttir), an Icelanidic DJ living in London who is trying to escape a troubled past. Toby Onwumere as Capheus "Van Damn" Onyango, a matatu driver in Nairobi and a passionate fan of Jean-Claude Van Damme who is trying to earn money to buy AIDS medicine for his mother. Gabriel Ouma portrays a young Capheus. Max Riemelt as Wolfgang Bogdanow, a Berlin locksmith and safe-cracker who has unresolved issues with his late father and participates in organized crime. Mathis Wernecke and Lasse Bergmann portray a younger Wolfgang. Miguel Ángel Silvestre as Lito Rodriguez, a closeted actor of Spanish background living in Mexico City with his boyfriend Hernando. Ramiro Cid portrays a young Lito. Brian J. Smith as Will Gorski, a Chicago police officer haunted by an unsolved murder from his childhood. Speaking about the Wachowskis picking names that carry a significance for their characters, Smith said about "Will": "The whole idea of Will Gorski, the idea of someone who's got this drive to act and to do, not just to be done to. It's very central to Will's character." Maxwell Jenkins portrays a young Will.
Other regulars Freema Agyeman as Amanita "Neets" Caplan, Nomi's girlfriend, who later becomes an ally for the new sensates. Terrence Mann as Milton Bailey "Whispers" Brandt, a sensate who turned against his own kind and who is part of an organization determined to neutralize sensates, known as the Biologic Preservation Organization (BPO). Naveen Andrews as Jonas Maliki, a sensate from a different cluster who wants to help the newly born cluster of sensates. Daryl Hannah as Angelica "Angel" Turing, a sensate from the same cluster as Jonas, who becomes the "mother" of the new sensates' cluster as she activates their psychic connection. Anupam Kher as Sanyam Dandekar, Kala's loving father, a chef and restaurant owner.
Recurring The recurring actors are listed by the region in which they first appear.
In Seoul, South Korea Son Suk-ku as Detective Mun Youn Yuh-jung as Min-Jung Lee Ki-chan as Joong-Ki Bak Sara Sohn as Soo-Jin San Sohn as Lina In San Francisco, California, United States of America Michael Sommers as Bug Maximilienne Ewalt as Grace Anthony Cistaro as Agent Jeffrey Bendix Annie Munch as Teagan Marks Rhonnie Washington as Dad #1 Michael Willis as Dad #2 L. Trey Wilson as Dad #3 In Mumbai, Maharashtra, India Purab Kohli as Rajan Rasal Rajiv Kachroo as Vikram Sid Makkar as Ajay Kapoor Natasha Rastogi as Priya Dandekar Mita Vashisht as Sahana Rasal Shruti Bapna as Devi Huzan Mewawala as Daya Dandekar In London, England, United Kingdom Satya Bhabha as Habib Clive Wood as Richard Wilson Croome Jason Thorpe as The Secretary Aidan McArdle as Mitchell Taylor In Nairobi, Kenya Paul Ogola as Jela Mumbi Maina as Zakia Asalache Chichi Seii as Shiro Peter King Mwania as Silas Kabaka Rosa Katanu as Amondi Kabaka Abdu Simba as Koman Nyagah Nini Wacera as Justice Abdu Elsaphan Njora as Nailah In Berlin, Germany Maximilian Mauff as Felix Bernner Valeria Bilello as Lila Facchini Lars Eidinger as Sebastian Fuchs Martin Wuttke as Volker Bohm Akira Koieyama as Maitake In Mexico City, Mexico Alfonso Herrera as Hernando Fuentes Eréndira Ibarra as Daniela Velázquez Tony Dalton as Lito's agent In Chicago, Illinois, United States of America Ness Bautista as Diego Morales John Judd as Professor Kolovi Janet Ulrich Brooks as Carol Cumberland Joe Pantoliano as Michael Gorski In Amsterdam, The Netherlands Kick Gurry as Puck Sylvester McCoy as Old Man of Hoy a sensate who is physically in Scotland Sarah Kants as Bodhi In the woods of California, United States of America Ben Cole as Todd W. McCarver Erik Hayser as Raoul Pasquale Teresa Navarro as Additional cluster member In Cambridgeshire, England, United Kingdom Annabelle Dowler as Elizabeth Anya McKenna Bruce as Chelsea
Episodes
Production
Casting On April 26, 2016, Deadline Hollywood reported that Aml Ameen abruptly left production a couple of episodes into filming of the second season over a conflict with Lana Wachowski that started during the table read for the season and progressively got worse. Both the Deadline article and Ameen's co-star on Sense8, Tuppence Middleton, suggested the conflict was over creative differences. When asked about it, Straczynski commented he was not there to know what happened between Ameen and Lana but he respects the choices of both. Subsequent to Ameen's departure, the role of Capheus was recast to Toby Onwumere after a seven-day auditioning process. Onwumere watched a few episodes of the show to prepare for his audition, as he had not seen it before. The actor said about his approach to the character: "My duty [was] not to emulate exactly what [Ameen] has done, ... but just to give it my own spin, and kind of do my own thing, and just give this character the same essence, but ... maybe a different life and a different take on it." Lana described the unexpected change of the actors as "beautiful" and "perfect", commenting that it complimented her effort to explore the nature of identity in the series. She elaborated that in her opinion Ameen was an actor that was "quite good at being innocent and boyish" and Onwumere had similar qualities but was also someone that was "ready to ... become a political leader ... and also fall in love and be sort of sensual with another body", storylines that are explored in the second season of the show.
Earlier in April, Kick Gurry, who had played parts in the Wachowskis' Speed Racer and Jupiter Ascending in the past, revealed he had been cast in the second season, after Lana called to inform him that they had written a role specifically for him. In May, Deadline Hollywood reported Ben Cole had been cast as Todd, a sensate who would rather be "normal". In September, Sylvester McCoy reportedly revealed he filmed three or four episodes of the second season of a Netflix show, later identified to be Sense8, and has signed to appear in further seasons if he is wanted. Martin Wuttke, who had minor roles in Cloud Atlas, also joined the cast in the second season.
Filming and locations