Neil Gaiman Teased An Hourglass-Themed Surprise Release, And People Got Wonderfully Carried Away With Guesses

Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman has been sitting in renewal limbo over at Netflix for over a month. The show gifted us with, among other things with the most beautiful hour of TV (“The Sound Of Her Wings”) of the year, and the saga’s been dancing within and near the top of Netflix’s streaming charts around the globe. Neil has made it clear that the show’s incredibly expensive, and that could prevent a Season 2 renewal (with Netflix tightening its belt these days), but fans are still holding out hope, to the point where, when Neil teased an announcement with an hourglass-themed clip, well, he obviously wasn’t talking about inadvertently irritating trolls with more Lord of the Rings.

Let’s just say that, in response, people got a little bit excited and started reiterating wishes for Netflix Season 2.

Good Omens (streaming on Amazon) also received a few shoutouts, but here’s perhaps my favorite guess: “an edgy remake of ‘Days of our Lives’?”

Neil apparently saw the soap-opera talk and pointed out that Audible did the hourglass thing, too, so there.

And that’s the root of the tease. Audible has hot-dropped Part III of its ongoing audio production of the dark fantasy saga. This is the version with James McAvoy as Morpheus/Dream and Kat Dennings being herself while playing Death. Michael Sheen portrays Lucifer, and we already heard Brian Cox getting Shakespearean while the story leaps through time and space. So it’s very good news: more more wait for Part II on Audible! From a press release, here are some fresh casting details:

Returning to the Audible Sandman universe is series star, James McAvoy in the title role as well as Kat Dennings as Death, Miriam Margolyes as Despair, Justin Vivian Bond as Desire, Jeffrey Wright as Destiny, Kristen Schaal as Delirium, Andy Serkis, Riz Ahmed, Regé-Jean Page, Kevin Smith, Bebe Neuwirth, Niamh Walsh, Arthur Darvill, Ray Porter, and a full ensemble cast. Joining the cast of Audible’s Sandman franchise for the first time are David Harewood as Destruction, Wil Wheaton as Brant Tucker, and KJ Apa as Prez.

The Sandman‘s first two parts still occupy the top two spots on the Audible all-time bestselling list. Get on over there and download this thing to your favorite streaming device, and keep crossing your fingers for more of the Netflix series.