Netflix’s ‘Sense8’ Premieres To Mixed Reviews, 500,000 Illegal Downloads

The latest prestige project to debut exclusively on Netflix is Sense8. The Wachowskis’ sci-fi thriller spent more than two years in development, and March 5th, 2015, it finally arrived for US Netflix subscribers. A few days after its release, it has been greeted by both mixed reviews from critics and, according to Variety, more than 500,000 illegal downloads.

Sense8’s first season, which unfolds across 12 episodes, comes from a trio of acclaimed sci-fi minds. The Wachowskis, who are best known as the co-directors of The Matrix, teamed up with Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski to tell the story of eight people who are connected by a telepathic bond.

In execution, though, most reviewers seem to agree that Sense8 is closer to the zanier, polarizing nature of the films that make up The Wachowski’s recent filmography–namely Cloud Atlas

and Jupiter Ascending. A positive review in The Philadelphia Inquirer, for example, described Sense8 as “slightly mad, madly majestic and overwhelming.” Variety, in a more negative take, termed the series “a pretty mundane, chaotic soap opera.”

Even if the critics aren’t convinced, viewers are eager to check Sense8 out. Variety notes that the series has been pirated more than 500,000 times since its premiere. By comparison, Game of Thrones episodes were pirated five million times over the first three months of 2015.

Netflix doesn’t release viewership figures for its series, so we aren’t likely to learn exactly how many people watch Sense8 legally. However, the series is drawing enough attention that it would be a surprise if it does not get renewed for a second season–as has been the case with almost every other original program Netflix has distributed.