ARTICLE
InC-Exclusive! Sense8 Star Jamie Clayton on the Fans, Season 2 and Sneaking Out with the Cast.
By Flora / 05 May 2017 (Friday)
Photo Credit: Netflix
When the globe-spanning series Sense8 debuted on Netflix in June 2015, the internet couldn’t stop talking about the sci-fi thriller that broke boundaries in television. Many praised the show for its international cast, the representation of gender identities, it’s invigorating storyline, and well, the sex.
Created by J. Michael Straczynski and Lana and Lily Wachowski (The Matrix movies), the series features a group of special people who are telepathically connected and has the ability to communicate with each other across thousands of miles. In addition, they share each other’s touch, emotions and experiences. The highly-anticipated second season premieres on Netflix 5th May 2017.
The eight chosen few, known as the ‘sensates’, are played by Aml Ameen, Doona Bae, Tina Desai, Tuppence Middleton, Max Riemelt, Miguel Angel Silvestre, Brian J. Smith and Jamie Clayton, whose character Nomi is a trans woman ‘hacktivist’, living with her girlfriend Amanita in San Francisco.
Sitting with a group of journalists in New York, Clayton shared about the experience on set, fans of the show, travelling around the world with the cast, and Nomi’s journey in Season 2.
Qn: How has the experience been since Sense8 debuted on Netflix?
Clayton: The experience is out of this world. Now, I’ve literally been to all over the world! It’s a dream come true. I got to work with a talented crew, an insanely incredible cast. I mean, I have grown so much as an actor, as a person and have seen the world. You know, my eyes and my heart are completely open in a way that I’ve never dreamed because of this experience.
Qn: Talk about the fans of the show. It seems like everyone who watches the show has some kind of connection to the characters. I assume this is quite huge for you…
Clayton: It is, it can be overwhelming in the most incredible way possible. For example, in Brazil, when we were there in Sao Paulo filming the pride festival, the passion from the fans is out of this world! When you have one or two or three (fans), you can already feel the passion, but when you have hundreds and thousands at once, you can feel the collective heartbeat of their gratitude for feeling represented in a way they have never had before. And I feel so grateful to be a part of them feeling those feelings. It’s really an honour.
Photo Credit: Netflix
Qn: What happens in Season 2?
Clayton: I mean, it took us 10 months to film it. It’s going to come out on May 5th, and trust me, by May 7th, we are going to get questions like ‘When is the next season?’ Because that’s the thing about Netflix! All episodes drop at once and not like one every week so you don’t have to wait that long.
When season 2 comes on, it’s going to be 10 episodes and picks up where the Christmas special left off. One of my favourite things about the story that you get to see in this season is you get to learn about BPO (Biologic Preservation Organisation) and why they are hunting the sensates; who Whispers is and you get all these backstories with Angelica, played by Daryl Hannah and Jonas, played by Naveen Andrews. You get all these amazing flashbacks. You get the origin story and you get to see the sensates grow in their personal lives and the really amazing things that happen. I think in the second to last episode, something happens to Nomi and I can’t tell you but it made me cry when I was reading the script. Trust me, it’s going to be worth the wait. Trust. Me.
Qn: Coming back to play Nomi in season 2, what do you miss most about playing her?
Clayton: I just miss the whole experience, full stop. I was so grateful to have the opportunity to do a second season because I was able to tell the story. So yeah, to come back to do season 2 and delve more into it - that Lana said in the beginning- is that she was really interested in the idea of the sensate personal lives while they were dealing with becoming a sensate.
There is this incredible storyline about Nomi and something with her sister. I was excited to do all of those bits and get to know more of Nomi's story and be able to bring all of her life and let the fans get to know her story.
Qn: The sexy and intimate scenes...
Clayton: We (sensates cast) are like brothers and sisters now. Filming those scenes are not easy… it’s not easy for all of us as I believe all of us have some sort of insecurities. You have to get completely naked and it can be very, very intimidating.
What I felt was really interesting is that friends of the media and even friends of mine have said to me: “Oh! What is it with these sex scenes, with these orgies that are so over the top?” But nobody wants to talk about the violence. Once you show two women having sex or two men kissing or sex with more than 2 people -and in some of the scenes, we are not even together, it was sort of an emotional connection- people panic again and say we’re pushing agendas.
As far as the sex is concerned, we are literally not showing anything that people are not doing it already. You just might not have seen it before. And it is only as big of a deal as you want to make it. I mean they’re great and they’re beautifully shot. I think the people who can see past that, they see the empathy and that’s what the show is about.
Photo Credit: Netflix
Qn: With this show, you get to travel to many countries around the world. Where do you hope Nomi travels next?
Clayton: I’m so glad you asked that question! The cast, we always have a fantasy list of where we want to go. If there’s a season 3, we want to go to Japan, travel to Paris, and Australia! Those are my top 3 actually. We were filming in Korea for a while, about three and a half weeks. A couple of us had this secret plan to sneak away during our off-days to get from Korea to Japan, but they (production team) changed our schedules and that none of us was able to go. We really wanted to explore Japan!
Qn: People from the trans community see you as a role model. Do you see this as some kind of responsibility?
Clayton: I have no issue being referred to as a role model. If you think I fit as a role model, go ahead... call me an icon, call me a legend! (*laughs). Call me beautiful!
As far as responsibility, I’m out. I’m not waving a flag, I’m not carrying a flag. Anybody who wants to do that. I’m fine. I’m really proud of myself and that makes other people proud of me. But I love it. I didn’t have a lot of role models to look up to when I was younger. So if I’m able to do that to other younger trans people or older trans people, I just love to inspire. I love being inspired and I love to inspire others! I love that.
Sense8 Season 2 premieres on Netflix 5th May 2017!