The Sandman's Dream Of A Thousand Cats Has Some Surprising Connections To The Audible Series
Neil Gaiman's "The Sandman" finally got the live-action treatment in 2022 after a number of failed attempts to bring the Dream King to the screen. But the Netflix series has been met with plenty of praise, earning itself an 86% critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and there's a good chance that Season 2 will get the go-ahead from the streaming service. The show follows the first few arcs of the comic series, which started back in 1989, starting with "Preludes & Nocturnes" and "The Doll's House."
Gaiman previously explained that the show isn't just for die-hard fans of the comics — tweeting, "Nobody gets to gatekeep Sandman. Not as a comic, not in the audible adaptation and definitely not on the TV. There's no entrance exam, nor should there be. Everyone is welcome." Although "The Sandman" universe is incredibly vast, with hordes of fascinating characters both good and bad, it's clearly tailor-made in a way that new audiences can jump in just as easily as someone who's read the entire saga.
But Netflix has added two more stories to the world of the Dreaming by dropping an unexpected two-part episode. The first half is an animated version of "Dream of a Thousand Cats" from "The Sandman" #18, while the rest of the episode is in live-action taken from issue #17 and explores the tragic tale of a Greek Muse, "Calliope."
But in the last few years, Audible adapted "The Sandman" comics into an audio-drama — and the bonus episode of the Netflix show features some surprising connections to the other version of the series.
Dream of a Thousand Cats brings back several fan-favorite actors
Audible's "The Sandman" faithfully adapts the comics without needing to change them too much to fit the constraints of television, and it also recruited an all-star cast of actors to bring it to life. Just to name a few, it boasts James McAvoy as Morpheus, Michael Sheen as Lucifer, Kat Dennings as Death, Riz Ahmed as the Corinthian, Taron Egerton as John Constantine, and Jeffrey Wright as Destiny. It's definitely worth a listen while waiting for Season 2 of the Netflix series.
The bonus episode's "Dream of a Thousand Cats" sees a Prophet siamese cat (Sandra Oh) explain the true history of cats over the years to an audience of felines, revealing that they used to be giant creatures that hunted humans for sport. However, this all changed when humans dreamed to be bigger than their furry oppressors — and the dynamic was instantly swapped. It's an entertaining little chapter, and the streaming service brings over some of the Audible cast to voice some of the characters in the smaller story.
The producers clearly aimed high, bringing McAvoy in to voice the Golden-Haired Man — the one who convinces humans to dream bigger, while Sheen voices Paul, the siamese cat's vicious owner who drowns her kittens. They're joined by Loki voice actor and "Doctor Who" alum, David Tennant, as Don, the owner of the tabby kitten (Rosie Day). It's also worth pointing out that Neil Gaiman also narrates the audio-drama, and he returns to voice the skull crow. If that wasn't enough, the voice of William Shakespeare, Arthur Darvill, gets a starring role in the live-action version of "Calliope" as the nefarious writer Richard Madoc.
They just can't get enough of the Dreaming!