We’ve all been there. You binge a whole season of your new favorite Netflix show in just a day or two and desperately wish there was at least one more episode to watch. Well, fittingly for this show, Netflix has made that dream a reality with The Sandman, as a surprise bonus episode just dropped online this Friday, offering fans a whole extra hour of Endless entertainment (see what we did there?) to enjoy.
It’s no easy feat to successfully make a secret episode of a hit series like this without anything leaking out, but somehow, The Sandman team managed it. In a look at how they pulled off the trick, executive producer Allan Heinberg revealed to Variety that those with the detective skills of Batman might’ve been able to follow the paper trail to figure out the truth, so he was relieved when the plan went without a hitch. Heinberg explained:
“There may have been hints earlier. We sold an 11-episode order way back when, and you’ll see that if you go back and look at some of the press. So I think we were a little bit like, ‘Have we let the cat out of the bag?’ before we even knew there were cats in the bag, but we did the best we could.”
As Heinberg’s purrfect pun alludes to, the bonus Sandman episode comprises two standalone stories, as adapted from the third volume of the DC/Vertigo comic series. The first, “A Dream of a Thousand Cats,” is a fully-animated tale with an A-list cast of guest voices. The second half, meanwhile, is a darker, live-action piece titled “Calliope,” which offers up some more fascinating details about Morpheus’ past.
While this bonus installment was a terrific treat, what fans really want now is confirmation that The Sandman is coming back for a second season, as even creator Neil Gaiman has admitted that its future is still unclear. With critical acclaim and major viewing figures behind it, though, hopefully this sneaky additional slice of season one won’t be the last time that we see the King of Dreams on our screens.
