The Sandman Remains Netflix's #1 Series in August

The latest live-action DC Comics series is continuing to reign supreme on Netflix. According to new metrics released by the streaming service on Tuesday, The Sandman was its most-viewed television series on the platform from the week of August 15th through August 21st, for a total of 77.24 million hours in that stretch of time. This new number most likely includes viewership for the series' surprise bonus episode, which dropped on the platform on Friday, August 19th. This comes after The Sandman has largely dominated Netflix's Top 10 list since its debut earlier this month, even doubling its streaming performance in the second week for a whopping 127.5 million hours. While series creator Neil Gaiman has hinted that those initial metrics might not guarantee the series a second season, the newest numbers definitely help the cause.

The Sandman is based on the iconic comic from Gaiman and artists Sam Kieth, Mike Dringenberg, Jill Thompson, Shawn McManus, Marc Hempel, Bryan Talbot, and Michael Zulli. A rich blend of modern myth and dark fantasy in which contemporary fiction, historical drama and legend are seamlessly interwoven, The Sandman follows the people and places affected by Morpheus, the Dream King, as he mends the cosmic – and human – mistakes he's made during his vast existence.

The series stars Tom Sturridge as Dream, Kirby Howell-Baptise as Death, Gwendoline Christie as Lucifer, Charles Dance as Roderick Burgess, Asim Chaudhry as Abel, Sanjeev Bhaskar as Cain, Jenna Coleman as Johanna Constantine, Joely Richardson as Ethel Cripps, David Thewlis as John Dee, Boyd Holbrook as The Corinthian, Stephen Fry as Gilbert, Patton Oswalt as the voice of Dream's raven Matthew, and Mason Alexander Park as Desire.

 "We've just covered in the first season, essentially, the first 400 pages or 450 pages," Gaiman explained in a recent interview with ComicBook.com. "Now we've dropped eleven [episodes] of Sandman and we have 2600 pages to go. So I don't look at this going 'Wouldn't it be fun to add something else in?' I tend to look at this and go, 'We have a long road to travel, with a lot of places that we have to stop on the way.' How can we get as much of The 75 issues of Sandman, of Dream Hunters, of Endless Nights, and then of Sandman: Overture? Everything that we've done, we've done knowing that, in many ways, the odds are against us getting to finish the story, but also knowing that if we do not plan to get to the end of the story, then we will have things missing when we need to get there. Which is an incredibly familiar feeling for me, because when I was writing Sandman, I never knew I was going to be able to get to the end of the story, if DC were going to cancel it, if something would happen. So it does feel kind of familiar."

Do you hope that The Sandman gets a second season? What do you think of the latest streaming numbers? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

The first season of The Sandman is now available to stream exclusively on Netflix.