Netflix Has Responded To The #SaveSense8 Campaign And The News Is Not Good
"We’ve seen the petitions. We’ve read the messages."
Last week Netflix pulled the plug on one of its most ambitious original programs, announcing that the recently-aired second season of Sense8 would be the sci-fi drama’s last. The decision sparked an outpouring of grief among fans, who had embraced the series and its dogged commitment to diversity and representation.
Following the show’s cancellation, a number of fans called on Netflix to reverse their decision, using hashtags like #SaveSense8, #RenewSense8 and #BringBackSense8. But according to a new announcement from the streaming service, it appears to have been in vain.
“We’ve seen the petitions. We’ve read the messages,” reads a post published on the Sense8 Facebook page yesterday. “We wish we could #BringBackSense8 for you. The reason we’ve taken so long to get back to you is because we’ve thought long and hard here at Netflix to try to make it work but unfortunately we can’t.”
The show’s Facebook followers were less than convinced. “I wish I could renew my Netflix subscription,” wrote one commenter. “I’ve thought long and hard here to try to make it work but unfortunately I can’t.”
Meanwhile, Sense8 cast member Brian J. Smith penned an open letter to the show’s fans in which he called the campaign “beyond awesome”.
“Please know that the fight you all put up trying to save something that you loved will forever be the ‘final season’ of Sense8,” he wrote. “YOU have given the show the ending it deserved. Even if that fight didn’t have a happy ending, it meant something.”
Smith also defended Netflix’s decision, saying that “Netflix is a relatively young enterprise and these kinds of growing pains suck. But please remember that they made this strange, gorgeous, unconventional show possible in the first place.”