‘The Sandman’: Netflix surprise releases new episode with Sandra Oh and James McAvoy

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.

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.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterSPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “A Dream of a Thousand Cats”/”Calliope,” the surprise 11th episode of “The Sandman” Season 1.Netflix’s “The Sandman” was always meant to have 11 episodes in its first season — you just didn’t know it until the special final installment, a two-part animated and live-action story titled “A Dream of a Thousand Cats”/”Calliope,” dropped Friday.Or, if you’re a diehard fan who has been following every piece of “Sandman” news since the TV adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s beloved graphic novels was first ordered to series in July 2019, you might have been slightly gaslit into not remembering that there were 11 episodes when the 10-episode season launched two weeks ago. “There may have been hints earlier.

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.

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.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor“Caroline’s Comedy Hour” is set to return to TV with fresh episodes under a licensing deal that comedy maven Caroline Hirsch has set with Scott Koondel’s Sox Entertainment.Sox has licensed 100 episodes of the standup comedy showcase series that ran on A&E Network in the early 1990s. Those will be collected with new installments that Hirsch and Sox Entertainment will produce.

“Where the Crawdads Sing” , Mark Greaney’s spy thriller “The Gray Man” and in series form “Paper Girls” on Prime Video starring Ali Wong and Jason Mantzoukas.August also has a slate of book adaptations landing in theaters and on streamers. Two of them came from graphic novels, and one might sound familiar to fans of George R. R.

“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.

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.