Surprise! Netflix drops bonus, 2-part episode of 'The Sandman' with James McAvoy, David Tennant

No, you're not dreaming! A bonus, two-part episode of The Sandman is now streaming on Netflix a mere two weeks after the show's premiere.

The 64-minute surprise tackles a pair of short comic book stories originally published in the collection entitled Dream Country — "Dream of a Thousand Cats" and "Calliope" — with guest star turns from Sandra Oh (Killing Eve), Nonso Anozie (Sweet Tooth), and Derek Jacobi (Tolkien), as well as Neil Gaiman veterans like James McAvoy (known for voicing Dream/Morpheus in Audible's production of the beloved source material) and Good Omens headliners, Michael Sheen and David Tennant.

The animated "Dream of a Thousand Cats" centers around a Siamese feline that dreams of a world in which cats are the dominant species on Earth. The live-action "Calliope" follows a struggling writer (Arthur Darvill) who finds himself punished by Dream (Tom Sturridge) for his imprisonment of the titular Greek Muse (played by Melissanthi Mahut).

Episode 11 scribe Caroline Smyth-Mcmullen (Two Sentence Horror Stories) has quite a history with the property. "I met her first at a convention in 1998 in Tasmania," Gaiman wrote on Twitter. "She was a nine year old Sandman fan. I'd never met a nine-year-old Sandman fan before. She grew up to be an astonishing screenwriter."

Gaiman cheekily alluded to the bonus episode on Twitter early Friday morning when he wrote: "It would be nice if there were more than just the ten episodes of Sandman in Season 1." When a fan asked if this meant the series had been picked up for a second season, the author clarified that there has been "no word or decision from Netflix on future seasons. They will want to see how we do for the first month before committing."

Co-showrunner and executive producer Allan Heinberg recently stated that he and fellow showrunner and executive producer David S. Goyer have "very ambitious" plans for a potential sophomore outing, which would adapt the fourth volume in The Sandman saga: Season of Mists.

"I love having cast a lot of these characters already, but obviously we've got Norse gods to cast and Egyptian gods to cast," he said. "We've got new demons and we've got some returning demons, so it's a party. It's a very ambitious season."

All 11 episodes of The Sandman are now available to stream on Netflix. The show currently holds a fresh 86 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Looking for some fantasy content? Click here for our list of the best fantasy films available on Peacock.