logo
Mind-bending' TV drama that had fans calling in sick races up Netflix chart

Mind-bending' TV drama that had fans calling in sick races up Netflix chart

Metro29-07-2025
A mind-bending Netflix series that had fans lying to their bosses so they could binge the 'gut-wrenching' finale has raced up the Netflix chart.
Part two of the second season of The Sandman, adapted from Neil Gaiman's beloved comic book series, dropped on Netflix on July 24.
Since landing on the service, the second season has flown to #3 on the Netflix Top Ten and been viewed more than three million times.
The second season focuses on Dream and his epic final journey as he seeks to rebuild his kingdom following his dramatic battle with Doctor John Dee.
However, the show has been marred by accusations against Gaiman, which sent shockwaves through his fan base earlier this year. Despite that, the show has remained extremely popular with its fans, even causing them to 'call in sick' so they can watch it.
Wake up to find news on your TV shows in your inbox every morning with Metro's TV Newsletter.
Sign up to our newsletter and then select your show in the link we'll send you so we can get TV news tailored to you.
Before it was released on the streaming platform, Sullyville said on Reddit: 'I called in sick. I just had an iced coffee. I'm here with you all waiting for the drop.'
Taking to X, @DailyJakeSweet added: 'Well, it's over. The Sandman is over. I'm a mess I won't tell more to avoid spoilers but I'm happy that we were given such a great adaptation, with a fabulous cast. Also, I didn't stop crying, did I mention I'm a mess?'
@LauraRival1 commented: 'I have no words, it's magnificent, this adaptation is a jewel with intense emotions. The actors are just perfect! Thank you all for bringing this story to life!'
@howlnini also said: 'TheSandmanSeason2 a beautiful end to a beautiful show :) What a ride! I will remain seated for the final episode.'
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
Despite the overwhelmingly positive reactions to the series, Netflix has already confirmed that this will be the last we see of Dream (Tom Sturridge).
In an announcement that came in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations levied against Gaiman, who co-developed the show from his comics.
Ahead of the season, Netflix released a teaser trailer for The Sandman season two, which did not mention Gaiman by name.
Allan Heinberg, the Sandman showrunner, also avoided mentioning Gaiman or the allegations against him when he shared a statement about the show's conclusion.
'The Sandman series has always been focused exclusively on Dream's story, and back in 2022, when we looked at the remaining Dream material from the comics, we knew we only had enough story for one more season,' he told Netflix's Tudum. More Trending
Several of Gaiman's upcoming projects have been cancelled or delayed in the wake of the allegations.
Most notably, we're still waiting to find out when season 3 of the Prime Video show Good Omens will air, while Dark Horse Comics has cancelled Gaiman's Anansi Boys series.
The Sandman season 2 part two is available to stream on Netflix.
View More »
An earlier version of this story was published on July 24.
Got a story?
If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you.
MORE: I'm a WWE expert – I'm shocked the Netflix documentary went so far
MORE: These are the 10 best sci-fi films of all time according to film lovers
MORE: Scottish police drama with 'palpable tension' races up Netflix top 10 chart
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Best new mobile games on iOS and Android – August 2025 round-up
Best new mobile games on iOS and Android – August 2025 round-up

Metro

timean hour ago

  • Metro

Best new mobile games on iOS and Android – August 2025 round-up

A mobile version of Subnautica, a Zack Snyder movie tie-in, and the return of Angry Birds are amongst this month's most interesting mobile games. Like Google before it, Netflix's foray into video games doesn't appear to be going to plan. Despite concentrating on mobile – a more accessible sector with a faster turnaround than PC or console titles – the recent deletion of 20 games from its roster, including crown jewels like Hades and Monument Valley 3, isn't a great sign. There's a move afoot to concentrate on Netflix IP, as typified by this month's Blood Line: A Rebel Moon Game, which while perfectly competent is a little uninspiring. Netflix subscribers will still find all-time classics like Into The Breach are available, but it may be wise to make the most of them while you can. iOS & Android, £8.99 (Playdigious) Released for PC in 2018, Subnautica finally makes its way to mobile with this excellent port. Once again your spaceship suffers a rapid unscheduled disassembly over watery planet 4546B, leaving you with just an escape capsule bobbing on the waves, which when you begin the game, is on fire. Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. To survive on your own, in an alien ocean, you need to harvest crafting materials to make useful props, like The Swiss Family Robinson but with a fabricator. Starting with longer lasting oxygen tanks and flippers for speedier underwater swimming, you're soon building submarines and entire undersea bases. Touch controls are rarely ideal, but the slow-moving undersea environment doesn't demand twitch reactions, although you will still need to make the odd swift getaway from large aquatic predators. The lovely undersea environments, gradual exploration, and drip feed of new construction blueprints remains hugely compelling. Score: 8/10 iOS & Android, included with Netflix subscription (Netflix) Based on the instantly forgettable Zack Snyder films, Blood Line uses Rebel Moon's lore and universe, which means the plot is complex but turgid, its poker-faced dialogue delivered by still drawings of generic, bearded sci-fi bodybuilders. Behind the characterless facade you'll find a twin stick shooter, whose missions – steal fuel supplies, destroy signal jammers, acquire holographic MacGuffin – boil down to shooting some people and robots, activating switches, then defending an area from more people and robots, before being extracted back to the bearded muscleman mothership. It looks fine, you can play co-op with randos online, and its guns look and feel powerful, with a variety of different characters and skills to experiment with. The action is pretty mindless but also moderately entertaining, provided you skip through the plot exposition at high enough speed. Score: 6/10 iOS & Android, £4.99 (Headup Games) Physics-based bridge building games work really well on a touchscreen, especially on the slightly roomier screen of an iPad, and Bridge Constructor Studio is no exception, its interface proving straightforward and intuitive. Start by sizing up the gap you need to cross, available anchor points, and the vehicles you'll need to get to the other side, then make a bridge using as few materials as possible to bring it in under budget, earning a golden screw for each level successfully completed. In fellow bridge maker, Poly Bridge 3, you could view the winning constructions of players on its leaderboard, which was a nice twist, but even without that Bridge Constructor Studio is a polished puzzle game with near endless scope for tinkering, as you try and complete each challenge with fewer and cheaper materials. Score: 8/10 iOS & Android, free (Pusilung) Borrowing the core gameplay of last year's free-to-play Nightfall: Kingdom Frontier TD, Shadow Kingdom may not look quite as refined, but it's no mere rip-off. Underneath the mild plagiarism and less cartoony art style is a much more balanced and interesting game. Centred around a controllable hero defender, you use the winnings from each wave's dispatched enemies to build resource generators, defensive towers, and barracks to train ground troops. Each level's geography, tower availability, and the constituency of its waves of enemies makes it a singular puzzle to unpick. Watching the occasional ad does help the war effort, and there are deliberate pay walls that take a bit of grinding to get through, but Shadow Frontier still manages to deliver a decent sense of progress and thought-provoking challenges, that often take a few attempts to figure out. Score: 7/10 iOS, included with Apple Arcade Subscription (Apple) One of the founding pillars of the mobile video game ecosystem, Angry Birds has been around seemingly forever. Its latest instalment, Bounce, returns to sling-shotting ball-shaped birds, but this time rather than knocking down buildings, you're trying to eliminate tiles by catapulting and rebounding birds into them. Once again, different birds come with their own destructive properties, so choosing the right ammo for each level really helps you get through it, and since this is Apple Arcade, all hint of microtransaction has been expunged, leaving you to enjoy as much of it as you like. As is traditional for the franchise, it's actually pretty tough once you get going, its cartoon-style good looks belying serious difficulty, even if it never quite manages to match the charm of the Puzzle Bobble games, which relied on a similar mechanic. Score: 6/10 iOS & Android, free (IGG Singapore) More Trending A blatant and terrible looking AI introductory sequence, with poorly translated dialogue, helps set the scene for a game that plays exactly like Kingshot and its ilk. That means you'll be refurbishing a cute village, bulking up its army and defences, and joining a clan. After those gentle introductory hours, you're then unleashed into the wider world, where you'll instantly fall prey to players who've spent more money than you and will repeatedly and ruthlessly demolish your settlement. Given just how many games are built around these mechanics, it suggests there's a market for its brand of skill-free pay-to-win warmongering. And yet it's baffling that a game that only rewards you for waiting and paying would be worth making in the first place, especially when it's dressed up in dismal generative AI art assets. Score: 2/10 Email gamecentral@ leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader's Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. MORE: Gradius Origins review – shooting the core in Salamander 3 MORE: Time Flies review – the life and death of a bluebottle MORE: Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound review – don't rage against the machine

Where to stay in Los Angeles: The best neighborhoods to base your visit in
Where to stay in Los Angeles: The best neighborhoods to base your visit in

Time Out

time2 hours ago

  • Time Out

Where to stay in Los Angeles: The best neighborhoods to base your visit in

Bordered by Griffith Park to the north, Los Feliz is situated along a cozy, evergreen-lined hillside with its own unique charm. Back down towards the flats, the eateries and shops that run along both Hillhurst and Vermont Avenues have a more casual and comfortable feel than nearby Hollywood without as much of the increasingly-luxuriously hip vibe found in its neighbors Echo Lake and Silver Park. It's not a convenient base if you plan on regularly venturing into the Westside, but I think Los Feliz is ideal for any trip that'll primarily have you heading anywhere in Hollywood and east (and even for some near-Valley destinations like Universal Studios Hollywood or the neighboring movie studios in Toluca Lake and Burbank). Metro's B Line (Red) runs all the way to the southern edge of Los Feliz, where you can also jump onboard a DASH bus to the Observatory. Oh, and FYI: It's pronounced Los FEE-lisz. EAT The unofficial living room of the neighborhood, Little Dom's has stayed bustling for breakfast, lunch and dinner over the past two decades (swing by for its three-course Monday night suppers). Kismet is jam packed with brilliant Turkish and Mediterranean-inspired shareables and snacks—the shakshuka, broccolli toast and fantastically flakey bread and dips are all great choices. DRINK Take a seat in the idyllic twinkle-lit courtyard at Big Bar and sample from a selection of playful but unfussy perfectly concocted cocktails. Or try pre-Hispanic recipes at Mírate, which was recently named one of the best bars on the continent. DO Stop off at the bright and airy Skylight Books and search through the independent store's thoughtfully curated staff picks for some mind stretching reading material. Peruse an always different assortment of pop culture at Soap Plant Wacko and its adjoining gallery La Luz de Jesus. Then catch an early evening matinee in the Egyptian style Vista Theatre (now under the ownership of Quentin Tarantino). STAY You'll only find a couple of overnight options within Los Feliz proper, namely Hotel Covell, a five-room boutique hotel located above Bar Covell. Each room conjures a different phase in a fictional, well-heeled traveler's life—think a humble Midwestern bedroom, New York in the '50s and a Parisian love nest. (Though it's worth noting there's no pool or gym.) On the northwest side of the neighborhood, a former courtyard motel has been given a chic makeover as the Cara Hotel, perhaps best known for its dreamy patio restaurant. If you do just one thing…

Why is Percy Hynes White not in Wednesday season 2?
Why is Percy Hynes White not in Wednesday season 2?

The Independent

time3 hours ago

  • The Independent

Why is Percy Hynes White not in Wednesday season 2?

Percy Hynes White, who portrayed Xavier Thorpe in Netflix 's hit series Wednesday, has been dropped from the show's second season, which premiered on August 6. His removal follows allegations of sexual misconduct made against him in January 2023, which the Canadian actor has denied, calling them a 'campaign of misinformation'. Netflix has not officially confirmed the specific reason for White's departure from the Addams Family spin-off. Within the show's narrative, White's character, Xavier, is explained to have left Nevermore Academy and been sent to Reichenbach Academy in Switzerland. White stated in June 2023 that the accusations were false and led to his family being doxxed and friends receiving death threats.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store