A new deleted scene from The Sandman reveals more context about Dream’s capture.
The video posted on Twitter by Netflix Geeked shows extended footage from episode one, “Sleep of the Just.” It takes place ten years later after Dream’s (Tom Sturridge) capture by the occultist Roderick Burgess (Charles Dance). It begins with his son Alex (Laurie Kynaston) at a party in his father’s mansion reading a newspaper story about Sleeping Sickness, a condition that has vexed many people with sleep-related issues all over the world.
Alex pieces together that Dream’s capture is the reason for Sleeping Sickness and goes upstairs and asks his father to release him. Roderick, however, has been using Dream’s tools of power for his own selfish gains and wants to hold onto the benefits it provides him. After this confrontation, Roderick sends his son outside to tell the people waiting outside to go away, and the scene ends.
This scene adds much more context to Alex’s story, which ends tragically. Roderick attempted to capture Death to resurrect his eldest son, but the ritual failed, and he captured Dream instead. Alex, who had a kinder disposition, had misgivings about Dream, but he always buckled under his father’s fury. He considered letting Dream out but never built up the courage to do so, and when the Endless being is finally released, he cursed an elderly Alex to a life of eternal nightmares.
The judgment seemed harsh, but considering Dream had been captured for about a century, it’s understandable why he didn’t grant Alex much mercy. The deleted scene further proved how torn the young boy was at Roderick’s choices, but when his father died, Alex didn’t immediately release Dream. Alex might not have been so different from his father after all.
Two weeks after The Sandman premiered on Netflix, a bonus two-part episode was released. The stories included “Dream of a Thousand Cats” and “Calliope,” and The Sandman creator Neil Gaiman revealed the story behind the bonus episode that surprised many people.