These days it takes a lot to keep a good show down. Translation? Cancellation doesn't always mean goodbye for TV shows. Sense8 is the latest show to beat getting the axe. Sort of.
After two seasons, Netflix pulled the plug on the fan-favorite sci-fi series about sensates, eight strangers who were emotionally and mentally linked. The streaming service cited high production costs for the reason it canceled the series, but fans rallied. They tweeted, they emailed, they wrote in, they organized campaigns—and Netflix listened.
"After seeing that the cancellation was a total cluster, we decided to give Sense8 fans the ending they totally deserve," a Netflix spokesperson said in a statement when the two-hour movie was announced.
Series co-creator Lana Wachowski penned a letter to fans that was posted on the Sense8's social media pages. "It is my great pleasure as well as Netflix's (believe me, they love the show as much as we do but the numbers have always been challenging) to announce that there will be another two hour special released next year. After that...if this experience has taught me anything, you NEVER know," she wrote.
You can read the full letter below.
Sense8 isn't the only series to beat cancellation. Below, take a look at the other shows that successfully found new life. And yes, we know Sense8's return is only in a movie form. And yes, we're not counting revivals like Gilmore Girls, Will & Grace, Roseanne and The X-Files. Those shows had lengthy runs before signing off and returning to TV life.
In March 2019, Netflix canceled this reboot of the classic Norman Lear sitcom after three seasons on the streaming platform. But after months of speculation, Pop, a cable channel owned by CBS, swooped in with an order for One Day at a Time season four. The new season will premiere in 2020 on the network that brought Schitt's Creek to the US.
Fox canceled Brooklyn Nine-Nine after five seasons, but then fans—including very famous fans—rallied around the show. NBC swooped in and saved the show.
ABC pulled the plug on the Tim Allen sitcom after six seasons in May 2017. Fox revived it in 2018, and it's still going strong.
Lucifer spent three seasons on Fox before getting canceled. However, fans rallied around the series and Netflix picked it up.
After two seasons on ABC, Netflix came in and saved the show from cancellation.
Netflix made waves canceling the fan-favorite sci-fi series after two seasons, citing production costs for reasons why it pulled the plug. Sense8's cancellation did not go over well. Fans campaigned, fans wrote in, fans spoke up and they're getting a 2-hour finale wrap up movie...and maybe more?
NBC pulled the plug on Timeless, its time travel drama, after one season. However, that decision didn't last long and the series received a second season order just days later. The show was canceled again, but got a wrap up movie.
After ABC decided to put this country music drama on mute after four seasons, studio Lionsgate began actively pursuing a new home for the Connie Britton and Hayden Panettiere-starring series, finally landing at CMT. It's since ended.
After three seasons on Fox, Mindy Kaling and her on-screen alter ego were kicked to the curb, only to be rescued by Hulu days later with a 26-episode order for season four. The Mindy Project will end after its sixth and final season.
A&E's series about a Wyoming sheriff based on the Craig Johnson books lasted three seasons on the network before the Grim Reaper came calling. Then Netflix came to the rescue for a fourth season and ordered a fifth and final season.
NBC wasn't game to give their beloved, but little watched, comedy a sixth season to fulfill the "#sixseasonsandamovie" prophecy, but Yahoo was. Unfortunately, that sixth season basically bankrupted Yahoo Screen, shuttering the site's streaming shingle for good. Now how about that movie?
The Poppy Montgomery drama has been around since 2011 and got canceled twice by CBS, once between season one and two and another after season three. However, A&E came to the recuse and gave viewers season four. And then canceled the show. Again.
The Patricia Arquette-fronted series ran on NBC from 2005-2009 before being canceled. CBS, who was one of the studios on the project, responded and picked up the show for two more seasons bringing it to a grand total of seven psychic seasons.
JAG, the show that would later run for 10 years and spawn one of NCIS, one of TV's biggest hits, originally got its start on NBC in 1995. A ratings disappointment to the network, they canceled it and in swooped CBS.
A spinoff of Girlfriends, The Game started on The CW where it stayed for three seasons until 2008. BET and CBS, a producer of the series, got in bed together and revived the series for a fourth season in 2008. The show is still going strong with an eighth season announced in April 2014.
After a TV movie in 1981 starring Loretta Swift as Cagney and a six-episode first season starring Meg Foster as Cagney, the show was canceled. But following backlash, CBS brought back the series and Sharon Gless took over the title role opposite Tyne Daly. It was canceled again in 1983. However, a letter-writing campaign and a rerun timeslot switch that saw ratings increase and an Emmy nomination convinced CBS to bring it back again.
Jack Bauer returned with a vengeance for another adventure in the summer of 2014, four years after the original series wrapped its run on Fox. The series was brought back in another form, 24: Legacy, but that only lasted one season.
Originally airing on Fox from 1999-2003, Futurama was another show that benefited from reruns. The property came back to life as four direct-to-DVD films in 2008 and Comedy Central ordered new episodes in 2009. The show wrapped up its second run in 2013.
Never underestimate the power of a fan campaign! The CBS drama was canceled after a low-rated first season, but an aggressive fan campaign convinced CBS to bring it back for a seven-episode season two. Ratings didn't improve and the show was canceled a second time.
While it technically didn't beat cancellation by getting another season, we'd be remiss not to include our favorite snarky blonde detective. Seven years after it was canceled after three seasons, Veronica Mars returned to life on the big screen. Two books and a digital spinoff series followed and series creator Rob Thomas and star Kristen Bell re-teamed for an eight-episode miniseries on Hulu.
The Griffin family originally debuted on Fox in 1999 and stuck around for three seasons. Low ratings led to their demise and Fox canceled the show in 2001. But reruns on Adult Swim and DVD sales proved there was still life left in the series and Fox brought it back from the dead with a fourth season debuting in 2005.
The Bluth family couldn't be kept down. After three seasons on Fox, the cult-hit comedy was canceled. Creator Mitch Hurwitz talked about bringing the beloved series back as a movie for years, but Netflix came along and gave viewers a season four 10 years after the show originally debuted. Will there be more? That remains to be seen.
The Killing has had more lives than a stray cat. The drama starring Mireille Enos and Joel Kinnaman was canceled by AMC after its second season and then brought back for a third. And then canceled again. And then brought back, but this time for Netflix. It was the final season. We think.
She's it! The Comeback returned to HBO for a second season nearly 10 years after it premiered. The series stars and was co-created by Lisa Kudrow. The Friends veteran plays Valerie Cherish, a sitcom star who got a reality star and a bit part on a new show in an effort to reclaim her fame.
Are you looking forward to more Sense8?
The finale wrap up movie airs in 2018.