Surprise Episode of THE SANDMAN Drops on Netflix with James McAvoy, Sandra Oh, David Tennant, and Michael Sheen

A surprise bonus episode of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman dropped on Netflix today at 12am! The episode also features guest stars Sandra Oh, James McAvoy, David Tennant, and Michael Sheen. The bonus episode comes two weeks after the 10-episode series launched on the streaming service.

The new episode is a live-action/animated hybrid episode adapting two fan-favorite stories from the Sandman graphic novels, “A Dream of a Thousand Cats” and “Calliope.”

“A Dream of a Thousand Cats” is the animated portion, and it stars Tom Sturridge in the role of Dream, as well as 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, 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.

As you know, McAvoy voices Morpheus, a.k.a. Dream, in Audible’s The Sandman audio adaptation, while Sheen does the voice of Lucifer, and Tennant voices Loki. Sheen and Tennant also star in Gaiman’s series adaptation of Good Omens.

Hisko Hulsing, who directed the animated story, said in a statement: “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. 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. Untold Studios in London created the breathtaking 3D animation of the cats. The wonderful 2D animation, oil paintings and stylizing were all done at Submarine Studios in Amsterdam.”

The live-action story “Calliope,” features Sturridge along with guest stars Melissanthi Mahut as Calliope, Arthur Darvill as Richard Madoc, 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. It was directed by Louise Hooper.

The new bonus episode was written by Catherine Smyth-McMullen and executive produced by show creators Gaiman and David S. Goyer, and showrunner Allan Heinberg.