Sense8, the long-anticipated Netflix sci-fi drama from Andy and Lana Wachowski of The Matrix fame, finally has a cast. And it's massive.
Daryl Hannah, Lost vet Naveen Andrews, former Doctor Who companion Freema Agyeman and Brian J. Smith, who played Lt. Matthew Scott on Stargate Universe, are the best-known members of the 14-person cast, revealed Friday by Deadline, and confirmed by Mashable.
However, they are not the series' only recognizable names. British actors Tuppence Middleton (Jupiter Ascending) and Aml Ameen (Harry's Law), Indian actress Tena Desae, South Korean actress Doona Bae, German actor Max Riemelt, and Mexican actors Alfonso Herrera and Erendira Ibarra round out the cast of Sense8, which follows eight people from around the world who suddenly find themselves telepathically linked. Jamie Clayton (Hung), Miguel Silvestri and Terrence Mann will also star.
In May, co-showrunner J. Michael Straczynski told Comic Book Resources that the story was "about eight characters around the world who one day find themselves empathically or telepathically connected," and who are being hunted by a multinational organization. Smith, Middleton, Ameen, Bae, Silvestri, Desae, Riemelt and Clayton will play those eight people, according to Deadline.
Filming on the 10-episode first season has already begun, and is expected to run through early November, with locations in the U.S., Mexico City, London, Iceland, Berlin, Nairobi, Seoul and Mumbai. Sense8, first announced back in March 2013, does not yet have a premiere date.
"The countries we're shooting in aren't just backdrops to our story; they're a part of that story in a deeper and more profound way than has really ever been done for American TV," Straczynski said in the interview with the comic site. "Circling back at this from working in movies, none of us who are involved in this wanted to do a TV show just for the sake of doing a TV show. If we couldn't do something that nobody had done before, we didn't want to do it. And that's exactly what we've created here."