Andy and Lana Wachowski at the Los Angeles premiere of Cloud Atlas
Continuing its drive for exclusive, original programming, Netflix has announced a new series from acclaimed sci-fi writing and directing team the Wachowskis will arrive on the service in 2014.
The Wachowski siblings Lana and Andy, who wrote and directed The Matrix trilogy, will team up with writer and producer J Michael Straczynski – best-known as the creator of Babylon 5 – on Sense8, a new sci-fi TV series being produced exclusively for Netflix.
The series will be produced by independent TV studio Georgeville Television in association with Studio JMS (launched last year by Straczynski and CEO Patricia Tallman).
“We’re excited to work with Netflix and Georgeville Television on this project, and we’ve wanted to work with Joe Straczynski for years, chiefly due to the fact his name is harder to pronounce than ours, but also because we share a love of genre and all things nerdy,” said the Wachowskis (in tandem, it seems). “Several years ago, we had a late-night conversation about the ways technology simultaneously unites and divides us, and out of that paradox Sense8 was born.”
Netflix seems to be commissioning programming based on what it knows its membership enjoys watching, having employed the talents of David Fincher for House of Cards, and Eli Roth for Hemlock Grove, and the Wachowskis’ previous film productions are certainly popular among viewers
“Andy and Lana Wachowski and Joe Straczynski are among the most imaginative writers and gifted visual storytellers of our time,” said Ted Sarandos, chief content officer for Netflix. “Their incredible creations are favourites of Netflix members globally and we can’t wait to bring Sense8 to life.”
A first season of 10 episodes of Sense8 will arrive on Netflix late next year.
Image of the Wachowskis by Jaguar PS via Shutterstock
