The Sandman fans must be thrilled with how things are shaping up for the iconic Neil Gaiman comic. Not only is the ongoing Audible production still bringing installments, but the Netflix series — which contains the most beautiful episode of TV this year — is a streaming hit. The show’s been sitting atop the streamer’s Top 10 charts for two weeks, and to celebrate, the show has released a bonus episode containing two stories.
Does this mean that no one would have seen this episode if the streaming numbers weren’t there? There’s no telling, but clearly, this is good news. One of those stories is the live-action “Calliope” installment, which aligns with the first story I ever picked up (it’s from the Dream Country collection). Neil Gaiman told us about how the episode transformed from a story about creative frustration and “the spiritual cost of making [things up in fiction]” into a story about someone very specific. And so, now the story has been rendered on the small screen to relate the plight of a captured Greek muse (mind you, this is a women’s narrative that begs for a trigger warning) and how Dream must rescue her after he’s managed to evade his own century-long imprisonment.
In addition, viewers can now watch “A Dream of A Thousand Cats,” which has been tucked into the bonus episode as an animated story. From a Netflix press release, here are the relevant streaming numbers:
The bonus episode is a surprise drop for fans who have been long-awaiting additional stories from The Sandman universe. The Sandman reigns #1 on the Netflix Top 10 TV list (English) for a second week in a row, amassing 196.98 Million hours viewed since its debut (Aug 5 – 14). The series also appeared in the Top 10 in 93 countries.
As of now, The Sandman hasn’t announced a Season 2, but all of this seems like a very good step in that direction.