The Sandman appears to have been a sizeable hit for Netflix. The longtime resident of development hell and live-action adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s classic DC/Vertigo comic received rave reviews, shooting to the top of Netflix’s global charts in the process after racking up almost 70 million hours of viewing time in its first three days. While we can never predict which shows will get second seasons and which will be canceled, it seems very likely that the show will return for a sophomore run.
A surprise leak also indicates we may get some new material sooner than that, as drag queen reaction show I Like to Watch featured footage from the stories A Dream of a Thousand Cats and Calliope, neither of which featured in the first batch of episodes.
Whatever the case, Gaiman must be happy and relieved that The Sandman finally got the treatment it deserved. He’s constantly interacting with fans on Twitter, but took the time to single this amazing piece of fan art as “amazing”. Appropriately enough, it’s created in sand, with artist @fallinginsand – known as ‘The Sandman’ – painting Dream’s picture with perfect accuracy.
The first season of The Sandman adapted the first two collected volumes; Preludes and Nocturnes and The Doll’s House, so the second may encompass Dream Country, Season of Mists, and A Game of You.
However, Dream Country consists of four independent stories, including A Dream of a Thousand Cats and Calliope. If the leak is true and Netflix already has those two stories in the can, we may get the beloved A Midsummer Nights Dream, about Dream’s partnership with William Shakespeare (teased in episode 6 of the first season), and Façade, about a depressed superheroine unable to die, before the second season lands.
Fingers crossed we hear more on this soon, as after that barnstorming first season, we can’t get enough of The Sandman.