SENSE8 SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON 2015 PANEL RECAP

• J. Michael Straczynski, co-writer/creator and executive producer of Sense8, presented the panel on his own.
• There was a 2hr-long line outside Room 6A for the panel.
• No news on a season two renewal yet but we should have a say from Netflix in the next two weeks.
• Identity, gender and privacy were the main topics in the development room.
• Is filmed in first person perspective so, like the characters, the audience is supposed to be confused/learning as you go.
• In Iceland they build freeways around elves and their habitats (?!?)
• Dating in Iceland is tough and there’s an app that will let you know if you’re related to someone.
• The dildo scene in the first episode was them planting their rainbow flag.
• The 2nd Assistant Director’s job was to drop the dildo on the floor in that scene, and had to drop it multiple times.
• The response from around the world has been amazing (doing particularly well overseas). The acceptance from people is remarkable and he is very proud. They receive about 200 tweets a minute. That just shows the direction of the show and where it’s going.
• Amanita is not Capheus’ sister.
• Sense8 is structured as a 12-hour movie: 1st four episodes were act 1, 2nd four were act 2, and 3rd four were act 3 and has been launched on netflix with all the eps available so that you could see the first 4 in one run and figure out what it is about.
• The Indian film crew in Mumbai was extremely excited/appreciative about filming a story in Indian culture.
• All the scenes were filmed on location around the world, no sets involved.
• When they film the scenes twice, they can’t change their mind about it because they’re not going back to that location.
• All the shoots in San Francisco were actually shoot during the actual Pride Festival.
• One reason the show wasn’t received well by critics was because sci-fi is supposed to follow certain rules, and Sense8 didn’t. Sci-fi is a very particular box, and the writers didn’t want to be in that box. That’s what makes the diversity of the show.
• SPOILER!!! There’s a possible way to save Will if you remember the first scene when Angelica was searching for drugs and Whispers mentions “so this is how you’ve been hiding from me”. Heroin closes sensates off, but drugs like DMT and ecstasy help to open the mind and connect them.
• The writers looked for lots of sensory ways for the sensates to connect.
• The buses in Nairobi are an actual thing in country.
• Who you are and what you do every day has value.
• How is privacy defined if you’re part of a cluster? What is death?
• One could imagine there is a group turning or killing sensates (!!!)
• They have to shoot scenes of the show twice - with different locations and that’s a true challenge.
• Nomi and Lito scene was very difficult for the actors
• Wachowski’s background is the true north of the transgender story of the show.
• Lito is the most complex character because he has so much to hide.
• Stracyzowski says a lot of his bakground informs Wolfgangs and it was hard for him to write.
• Will new sensates be added to the story or will we stick with the main 8? Stracyzowski says watch and see!
• Lana and Andy are huge Van Damme fans.
• Sensates are more emotional than other people, which is why Will saves the boy’s life in the first episode when other officers might’ve not.
• Tom Tykwer scored the entire show before they shoot and music has a very important role in feeling the emotions in a scene.
• He is sorry for everyone who has “What’s Going On” stuck in their head.
• Sensates are not the mutations, we are. The theory is that everyone started out as sensate but through generations we lost it and became humans (humans are the mutation).
• They are in discussions for boxsets and soundtracks for the show.
• Who’s idea was it to have Lito experience pms? They just wanted to show what it is to be connected.