The Sandman has been a monster success for Netflix, blasting past all expectations and industry predictions. Now, a month after its 5 August premiere, Neil Gaiman’s fantasy/horror cult classic is once again back on top of the Netflix charts, having dethroned Australian mystery drama Echoes.
The news comes via FlixPatrol, whose top ten for 1 September puts The Sandman on top, Echoes in second, Partner Track in third, and Extraordinary Attorney Woo in fourth. All of these shows have been exceptionally popular, though The Sandman is the clear front-runner across most major territories.
After this success we have to assume that a second season is now a lock. Though Netflix’s internal metrics remain mysterious, a show continuing to triumph over all competitors a month on from its release has to be a positive sign for the future. We can only hope production starts soon and the streaming giant greases every wheel it can to get it to screens as soon as practicable.
The recently released A Dream of a Thousand Cats/Calliope perhaps indicates what might be coming next. Those two stories form half of the collection Dream Country, with the other two the award-winning meditation on Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream and downbeat legacy superhero story Façade. The former is one of the most famous The Sandman stories and feels like a cast iron certainty for a live-action adaptation, but the latter is closely tied into DC superheroics so may have to be substantially altered to make the leap.
Either way, if Netflix focused on getting those two episodes out to keep fans interested as they prepare for an epic second season adapting the Seasons of Mist and A Game of You storylines we’d be thrilled.
More on The Sandman as we hear it.