A cult favorite sci-fi that finally became a franchise lights up on Netflix

There were a couple of bumps in the road, but at long last, fans of underrated and widely unsung sci-fi cult favorite Code 8 are finally getting the franchise they were hoping for.

Co-writer and director Jeff Chan expanded his 2016 short into a feature film, with the high concept revolving around a world where people born with superhuman abilities are treated like social outcasts, forcing them into poverty and low-paying jobs based on the unique set of skills they can bring to a particular form of hard labor.

Robbie Amell’s Conner Reed needs cash fast to pay for his mother’s medical treatment, causing him to fall in with criminal Garrett Kelton (played by his cousin Stephen Amell). Naturally, their plan to pull off a lucrative heist doesn’t exactly go according to plan, with law enforcement quickly closing in as they try to stay out of cuffs and emerge at the other end as free men.

Despite garnering a strong 80 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes, Code 8 flew largely under the radar until it was acquired for distribution for Netflix, where it quickly became one of the platform’s most-watched films. Plans for an episodic spinoff may have imploded when Quibi went under in embarrassingly quick time, but fortunately Netflix stepped in to give the okay to Code 8: Part II.

The opening chapter of a twisting saga that’s taken the route from short film to franchise via a failed TV show has once again returned to prominence on the streamer’s ranks, with FlixPatrol revealing Code 8 to be one of the top-viewed features on the global watch-list as of today. That bodes well for the sequel, we’d just like to know when we’re going to see it, and how many more to expect.