Inside the Three-Year Secret of Netflix’s ‘Sandman’ Bonus Episode — and How Neil Gaiman Almost Spoiled the Surprise of Its A-List Cast

The road to a filmed adaptation of Neil Gaiman's comic series The Sandman, first published in 1989, finally came to an end with a Netflix series that premiered this month. With a timeline like that, there's bound to be at least one or two surprising pitches for the show that never came to fruition, and Gaiman revealed one on a recent episode of Josh Horowitz’s podcast Happy Sad Confused.

Ethan Shanfeld In 1996, Michael Jackson paraded the globe with the HIStory World Tour, playing 82 shows for over 4.5 million fans. But that same year, the King of Pop apparently had his sights set on an entirely different gig: playing Morpheus in a television adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s “The Sandman.” “By 1996, I was being taken to Warners, where the then-president of Warner Bros sat me down and told me that Michael Jackson had phoned him the day before and asked him if he could star as Morpheus in ‘The Sandman,’” Gaiman said on Josh Horowitz’s “Happy Sad Confused” podcast. “So, there was a lot of interest in this, and they knew that it was one of the Crown Jewels, and what did I think? And I was like, ‘Ooh.’”

The Sandman creator Neil Gaiman has revealed Michael Jackson had wanted to be cast as Morpheus.Gaiman discussed the early iterations of the Netflix project in the 1990s, adapting his comic book series which ran from 1989 to 1996.In an interview on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Gaiman said: “By 1996, I was being taken to Warners, where the then-president of Warner Bros sat me down and told me that Michael Jackson had phoned him the day before and asked him if he could star as Morpheus in The Sandman.He continued: “So, there was a lot of interest in this and they knew that it was one of the Crown Jewels and what did I think? And I was like, ‘Ooh.’”In the Netflix adaptation recently released, Tom Sturridge plays Morpheus.

Available Aug. 5The fantasy drama series “The Sandman” — based on the graphic novel by Neil Gaiman — centers on the legendary figure Morpheus, the King of Dreams, who must set sail to regain his power. As one of The Endless, Morpheus is immortal, but must follow several rules as he oversees the dreaming part of humanity.

three-decade-long journey to get made, Gaiman said in a recent appearance on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast that top brass at Warner Bros. told him of the King of Pop’s interest in the part. “By 1996, I was being taken to Warners, where the then-president of Warner Bros.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Amazon’s Prime Video is going big with fall TV, launching the most expensive TV series in history, “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” and taking full control of NFL’s “Thursday Night Football.” But on the film side, things are a little less groundbreaking and more in flux as the industry waits to see what the e-commerce giant plans to do with MGM and which top movie-studio exec Amazon will select to run its film business. Among those whom Variety hears Amazon has spoken with in recent weeks are Netflix film chief Scott Stuber, Paramount Pictures alum Emma Watts and Warner Bros. vet Toby Emmerich. But according to multiple sources familiar with the matter, though Amazon “loved” Watts and doesn’t see Stuber as being interested in this type of role, deliberations are far from over and Amazon still has distance to go before the top film exec is chosen.

The Sandman creator Neil Gaiman is explaining why Netflix could choose to not renew The Sandman for a second season, despite being the number one show on the streamer.

10-episode first season earlier this month.The new episode is a mix of live-action and animated scenes, taking content from Gaiman’s “Sandman” DC Comics graphic novels: “A Dream of a Thousand Cats” and “Calliope.”“A Dream of a Thousand Cats” is the cartoon chunk of the show, with actor Tom Sturridge as his lead “Sandman” role as Morpheus/Dream.The guest voice cast members include Sandra Oh as The Prophet, Rosie Day as The Tabby Kitten, David Gyasi as The Grey Cat, Joe Lycett as The Black Cat and Gaiman himself as Crow/Skull Bird. “X-Men” star James McAvoy came on Golden-Haired Man along with “Doctor Who” alum David Tennant as Don, Michael Sheen as Paul and Nonso Anozie as Wyvern.“We endeavored to make the animated version of ‘A Dream of a Thousand Cats’ as mesmerizing and hypnotic as we could by utilizing the magic of real oil paintings on canvas,” Hisko Hulsing, who directed the animated segment, noted in a statement.

Netflix just gave “The Sandman” fans a huge surprise.

Netflix has released one bonus episode of The Sandman!

Netflix has surprised fans of The Sandman with an additional “bonus” episode of the popular series. The two-part animated/live-action hybrid episode, which was released at 12 AM PT, features favorite stories from Neil Gaiman’s graphic novels, “A Dream of A Thousand Cats” and “Calliope,” with guest stars Sandra Oh, James McAvoy, David Tennant and Michael Sheen.

Netflix has released a surprise bonus episode of The Sandman, available to stream now (August 19).Based on the series of comic books by Neil Gaiman, The Sandman stars Tom Sturridge as Morpheus/Dream, the personification of dreams and nightmares who sets out to restore order to his realm after being locked away for over 100 years.The two-part bonus episode is divided between animated story A Dream Of A Thousand Cats and the live-action Calliope. The former features a voice cast that includes Sandra Oh, Rosie Day, David Gyasi, Joe Lycett, Gaiman, James McAvoy, David Tennant, Georgia Tennant, Michael Sheen, Anna Lundberg, Nonso Anozie, Diane Morgan and Tom Wu.Speaking about the episode, director Hisko Hulsing said: “We endeavoured to make the animated version of A Dream Of A Thousand Cats as mesmerising and hypnotic as we could by utilising the magic of real oil paintings on canvas.“We combined the paintings with classically drawn 2D animation, based on realistic 3D animation of telepathic cats in order to create a trippy world that feels both grounded and dreamy at the same time.”Calliope, directed by Louise Hooper, stars Melissanthi Mahut, Arthur Darvill, Nina Wadia, Souad Faress, Dinita Gohil, Kevin Harvey, Amita Suman and Derek Jacobi.The Sandman showrunner Allan Heinberg previously told NME about plans to adapt the entirety of the comic series in potential future seasons.Asked how many seasons they’ve got planned, Heinberg said: “We’ve got as many as they’ll let us have.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterWhile Netflix has yet to renew Neil Gaiman’s “The Sandman” for Season 2, it’s just given fans of the new hit TV series the next best thing by dropping a surprise “bonus” episode featuring guest stars Sandra Oh, James McAvoy, David Tennant and Michael Sheen.Dropping Friday at 12 a.m. PT, exactly two weeks after the first 10 episodes launched, the new installment of “The Sandman” Season 1 is a live-action/animated hybrid episode adapting two fan-favorite stories from Gaiman’s “Sandman” graphic novels from DC Comics: “A Dream of a Thousand Cats” and “Calliope.”“A Dream of a Thousand Cats” is the animated portion and stars Tom Sturridge in his leading “Sandman” role as Dream, as well as a guest voice cast members including Oh as The Prophet, Rosie Day as The Tabby Kitten, David Gyasi as The Grey Cat, Joe Lycett as The Black Cat, Gaiman himself as Crow/Skull Bird, McAvoy as Golden-Haired Man, David Tennant as Don, Georgia Tennant as Laura Lynn, Sheen as Paul, Anna Lundberg as Marion, Nonso Anozie as Wyvern, Diane Morgan as Gryphon, and Tom Wu as Hippogriff.

 fans are getting an extra treat! Netflix dropped a special two-part episode at midnight on Friday, featuring the stories of «A Dream of a Thousand Cats» and «Calliope.» The first half of the bonus episode is an animated feature with series star Tom Sturridge reprising his role as Morpheus, known as Dream and the titular Sandman. The voice cast also includes creator and executive producer Neil Gaiman as Crow/Skull Bird, Sandra Oh as The Prophet, Rosie Day as The Tabby Kitten, David Gyasi as The Grey Cat, Joe Lycett as The Black Cat, James McAvoy as Golden-Haired Man, David Tennant as Don, Georgia Tennant as Laura Lynn, Michael Sheen as Paul, Anna Lundberg as Marion, Nonso Anozie as Wyvern, Diane Morgan as Gryphon and Tom Wu as Hippogriff.Directed by Louise Hooper, «Calliope» is live-action and stars Melissanthi Mahut as the titular character. Arthur Darvill also stars as Richard Madoc, as well as Nina Wadia as Fate Mother, Souad Faress as Fate Crone, Dinita Gohil as Fate Maiden, Kevin Harvey as Larry, Amita Suman as Nora and Derek Jacobi as Erasmus Fry.Hisko Hulsing, director and product designer of «A Dream of a Thousand Cats,» said in a statement that the production team worked to make the animation «as mesmerizing and hypnotic as we could» through the use of real oil paintings on canvas.«We combined the paintings with classically drawn 2D animation, based on realistic 3D animation of telepathic cats in order to create a trippy world that feels both grounded and dreamy at the same time,» Hulsing explained. «Untold Studio’s in London created the breathtaking 3D animation of the cats.

“The Sandman” and “Purple Hearts” led the Netflix Top 10 for the week of Aug. 1–Aug. 7 in the English shows and movies categories, respectively.

EJ Panaligan editorNetflix has officially confirmed the cancellation of the animated series “Q-Force,” a queer comedy following an undervalued group of LGBTQ+ superspies as they go on personal and professional adventures.Prominent figures in comedy such as Sean Hayes, Wanda Sykes, Patti Harrison, Matt Rogers of the popular “Las Culturistas” podcast, actors David Harbour, Gary Cole and actress Laurie Metcalf rounded out the main voice cast for the series.Rogers first revealed news of the show’s cancellation in May during a guest host appearance on the “Attitudes!” podcast, also sharing that he recorded his lines in a closet during the COVID-19 lockdowns. And while the show didn’t attract rave reviews from critics, Rogers praised its cult fanbase and spoke briefly on the show’s legacy during the same podcast.

SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “Lost Hearts” the Season 1 finale episode of “The Sandman.”Netflix’s 10-episode first season of “The Sandman” opened up a world of dreams and nightmares Friday for both viewers familiar with Neil Gaiman’s iconic DC comic book series and those who had never before entered The Dreaming.Following the journey of Morpheus, The Lord of Dreams (played by Tom Sturridge), as written in the first two installments of Gaiman’s “Sandman” comics, Season 1 of “The Sandman” TV show covered a lot of ground originally laid by Gaiman in the late ’80s and early ’90s. But there are still eight more volumes in the main “Sandman” comics series left to be adapted.