The Sandman, the live-action television series based on Neil Gaiman’s DC Comics dark fantasy series of the same name, premiered on Netflix on Friday. The 10-episode first season takes viewers on a journey through the far corners of the land of dreams, through the gates of hell and the awakening world of the mortal realm as Dream (Tom Sturridge) regains his realm after more than a century establish captivity on earth.
Fans of the series were surprised with the unveiling of an 11th episode, featuring adaptations of two popular standalone stories from The Sandman cartoons The first is an animated version of A Dream of a Thousand Cats, the 18th installment of the original comic series. Collected in the third volume of The Sandman“Dream Country” edition follows the story of a little white cat who is called to sneak away one night to attend a secret meeting in a graveyard where a Siamese cat tells the story of how she met the Dream Lord (in the form of a cat) who tells her the secret history and feud between cats and humans.
The animated story will also feature a bevy of guest stars lending their singing talents The Sandmanincluding James McAvoy (who notably plays Dream in the audio adaptation), Sandra Oh (kill Eve) and Neil Gaiman himself.
The second story in the bonus episode is a live-action adaptation of “Calliope” which predates “A Dream of A Thousand Cats” in issue #17 in the comics. The name comes from one of the nine muses in Greek mythology and tells the story of Richard Madoc (played by Doctor Who‘s Arthur Darville), a writer who cruelly enslaves Calliope to further his own artistic ambition and write great works.
Although the bonus episode was previously unannounced and a surprise to most, when asked what his favorite editions were, Neil Gaiman hinted that the show had adapted “A Dream Of A Thousand Cats” in one form or another The Sandman were during an interview for Netflix’s Geeked Week event. “Calliope”, on the other hand, is more of a (disturbing) surprise.
