At the moment, the likes of Netflix and Amazon are in a bit of a battle for original programming, often going for more interesting projects the networks are wary of that – such as David Fincher’s House Of Card, Hemlock Grove or resurrecting Arrested Development. Now Netflix is teaming up with Lana and Andy Wachowski, along with Babylon 5’s J. Michael Straczynski, for Sens8, which will be the The Matrix and Cloud Atlas directors’ first television project.

A press release describes the show as ‘a gripping global tale of minds linked and souls hunted’. The current plan is to get 10 episodes made and stream on Netflix at the end of 2014.

There’s little extra info on exactly what the series will be about, other than the barely there description above.

The Wachowskis comment, “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… 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.”

The current presumption is that the Wachowskis will direct at least a couple of episodes, although that’s not been confirmed as yet.

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.

What is Sens8? We still don’t know exactly, beyond that bare decription above. Reportedly it came out of a set of spec scripts the trio crafted, and we’re still working under the early assumption that the Wachowskis will direct some of the series.

The filmmakers do use the press release to explain why they wanted to work with the show’s co-creator:

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.

One of the most interesting developments in film in the last few years is the rise in the importance of China and the particular issues with releasing movies there. It’s fast becoming one of the biggest markets on the planet, but China’s laws mean only a handful of foreign movies can be released there each year. One way around that is to make your film a Chinese co-production, which is how Cloud Atlas is getting released in China (normally it’s only Hollywood’s biggest movie that are brought out in the country).

However Chinese audiences are getting a rather different version of the movie than the one audiences elsewhere have seen. Producers Grant Hill and Philip Lee told The Wrap, “We were unaware that our Chinese partners, Dreams of Dragon Pictures, had cut almost 30 minutes from the film. We did know that, as with other countries, there were likely to be censorship trims and we trusted them to protect the integrity of the filmmaker’s creativity and vision.”

Dreams of Dragon Pictures provided just over $10 million of the $100 million budget.

According to E!, the bits removed “included sex scenes featuring both gay and straight characters, as well as violent set pieces.” However it’s not immediately clear if other elements of the relationship between Robert Frobisher (Ben Whishaw) and Rufus Sixsmith (James D’arcy) have been altered.

Including homosexuality in movies is not unheard of in China, although it can cause issues with the censors and is seen as box office poison.

Co-director Lana Wachowski doesn’t seem that impressed, commenting at the premiere, “It sucks really, but I believe you can watch the full version online.” It was a jab at both the decision to severely cut the movie, as well as China’s rampant piracy problem.