The Sandman: How Many Episodes In Season 1?

From DC comic series to audio series to eventual small-screen success: That's the long journey of "The Sandman," the tale written by Neil Gaiman. "The Sandman" follows the capture and eventual escape of Dream (Tom Sturridge), a.k.a. Morpheus, who is in charge of the Dreaming, a world made up of both dreams and nightmares. 

After he escapes imprisonment from within the depths of the Burgess family home, Dream sets out to retrieve magical belongings lost during his capture and runs into many characters along the way, including Rose Walker (Vanesu Samunyai), Johanna Constantine (Jenna Coleman), Desire (Mason Alexander Park), and The Corinthian (Boyd Holbrook). It's a Season 1 journey that spans many episodes.

Season 1 of Netflix's "The Sandman" has a total of 11 episodes, with the shortest episode being 37 minutes and the longest lasting an hour and four minutes. Initially, it appeared that fans would only receive 10 episodes in the first season, but Netflix released an extra episode two weeks after the first 10 episodes were released. Season 1, Episode 11, "Dream of a Thousand Cats/Calliope" brings two well-known stories from "The Sandman" comics to life. "Dream of a Thousand Cats" is an animated tale centered on the thoughts of cats. Meanwhile, "Calliope" focuses on an imprisoned muse who was once married to Dream.

The creation of that bonus episode was years in the making, and the surprise episode drop could be foreshadowing a more non-traditional future for the series.

Executive Producers David Goyer and Neil Gaiman told Variety that they had been planning the surprise episode for three years. "The 'secret' 11th episode was conceived by Neil and Allan [Heinberg] and myself even before we pitched the show to buyers ... it felt very much in-spirit with Neil's unconventional run. We had many offers to make 'Sandman' amongst the buyers — but Netflix was the only one that agreed to make the 'secret' episode ... " Goyer said, noting that it was one of the main reasons why they chose Netflix. 

While the episode's release may have been a relief to those who quickly binged the first 10 episodes, the two-week break wasn't always the plan. Gaiman said the original idea was to release Episode 11 one year after releasing the first episodes. That unconventional approach is something that they hope to continue as they bring more stories from the Dreaming to Netflix.

In November 2022, Netflix announced that Dream's adventures would continue, and the possibilities are endless in terms of how new episodes of the series are released on the streaming platform. According to Variety, these new episodes could be released in batches, forgoing the traditional season format for the hit show. The publication spoke to Netflix's head of U.S. and Canada scripted series Peter Friedlander who said, "Everything is on the table when it comes to 'Sandman.' It's an innovative show."