“Adult website” xHamster is offering to produce a third season of Sense8.
Sense8, which was recently cancelled on Netflix, never managed to create a climate of hype or mass media attention the way other Netflix series have, despite having similar production costs. It similarly failed to garner the same amount of critical acclaim or awards nominations other shows like Stranger Things or The Crown or House of Cards. This led to the streaming service deciding to cut its losses and cancel the show entirely, until a successful fan campaign resulted in Netflix granting the series a two hour series finale.
Now, however, xHamster has offered to step in and resurrect Sense8. This would be quite a change from the site’s normal content, which is exclusively pornographic in nature. In an open letter to Lana and Lilly Wachowski, xHamster wrote: “We recently read that you’re working on a third season of Sense8 despite the fact that Netflix has no plan to renew the series. We know it’s unconventional, but we want to bring it back – on xHamster. We’re not talking about a parody, or something less than, but an actual revival of the series. Ever since we read about the cancellation, we’ve been wondering if there was something we could do. While we’re happy that Netflix is picking up the series for a conclusion, before you wrap up the story, we wanted you to consider another option – letting xHamster produce the series.”
As the site has plainly stated above, this does not appear to be a joke. They acknowledge that they have the means to create the series with an even larger budget than before, and acknowledges that there may even have been ulterior motives to Sense8’s cancellation: “We know that a series about polyamorous perversity is a hard sell for a mainstream network like Netflix. We have no such limitations, and also understand implicitly the interconnectedness of sexualities across boundaries… xHamster has a long history of fighting for the rights of sexual speech, and non-normative sexuality.”
The plea they make is both well-reasoned and impassioned, which admittedly is a little surprising considering the site’s history. However, years ago it was strange when Netflix itself began producing original content like House of Cards and eventually Sense8, so perhaps now it’s xHamster’s turn to shine.
What do you think of this strange news? Is it so crazy it just might work, or is it destined to ultimately be ignored by the Wachowski’s?
