Surprise, Sandman Stans! A new episode of Neil Gaiman‘s The Sandman has just dropped on Netflix. The two-part bonus episode will feature A Dream of a Thousand Cats (which will be animated), and Calliope (which is live-action).
While fans of the DC Comics have been overwhelmingly happy with the Netflix adaptation, which came to our screens on August 5, you can never have too much of a good thing. And there’s always more stories with these characters to tell – there are fourteen books so far, after all. What we presume will be first season of The Sandman covers the first two volumes of the story – Preludes and Nocturnes, and The Doll’s House.
Showrunner Allan Heinberg collaborated closely with Gaiman on the series and the Netflix team have worked hard to ensure that Netflix’s version of the story is as faithful as it can be to the books. While also making some changes that help translate the complex story and themes to television. Our reviewer singled out Vanesu Samunyai (who plays Rose Walker) and Gwendoline Christie (who plays Lucifer) for praise in his review.
A Dream of a Thousand Cats is a story from Sandman’s second volume in which a Siamese cat is led to the Dreaming and told of a past where cats were bigger and humans were smaller. The cats ruled the earth and were served by humans – so not unlike our reality, then.
Calliope is one of the Greek muses and is held captive so she can serve as inspiration to a writer named Madoc. Morpheus (played by Tom Sturridge in the series) rescues her and punishes Madoc with an overabundance of ideas – so he can’t concentrate on any one thing, and is nearly driven to madness. A situation that many writers will empathise with, I’m sure.
Find out more about Dream’s siblings, known as The Endless.