Sandman mania continues, as Netflix has released a deleted scene from The Sandman, which you can watch below. This new Sandman deleted scene comes on the heels of Netflix also hitting fans with two surprise Sandman bonus episodes over the weekend. It’s a smart play by Netflix to keep doling out this Sandman content: the series seems to be on a slow-burn rise in popularity, still inspiring waves of memes, gifs, and other social media buzz weeks after its debut at the beginning of August.
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Check out The Sandman deleted scene below:
THE SANDMAN fans, you've been good, so here's a deleted scene from episode 1 "Sleep of the Just" pic.twitter.com/S4JnDMM3FU
— Netflix Geeked (@NetflixGeeked) August 23, 2022
The deleted scene comes from The Sandman episode 1, “Sleep of the Just”, and it features Roderick Burgess/Magus (Charles Dance) and his son Alex (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth).
The deleted footage comes from an establishing scene, which moves through time and shows how Burgess establishes a wealth-sucking cult for himself in the ten years since he captured Dream (Tom Sturridge). Alex Burgess is reading about the “sleepy sickness” his father is causing by keeping Dream prisoner, only to be chastised by the head butler for slacking on his job helping to host “The Magus’s” party, and having to carry an armload of coats. The version of the scene we saw in the show sees Alex drop the coats off and go outside to try and do crowd-control on the would-be cultists who are swarming the door; the deleted version above reveals a longer sequence, where Alex confronts his father about the sleepy sickness, only to have his father lord over him and banish him outside, to face all the guests Magus doesn’t feel like speaking to that night.
This moment in the episode is a small but pivotal turn of fate; Alex flounders when trying to have the authority to quell the crowd – which is an opportunity his future stepmother Ethel Cripps (Niamh Walsh) seizes to wriggle her way into Alex’s good graces – and eventually his father’s bed. The deleted portions actually do help to deepen the meaning of this particular night – and why the episode touches upon it. Roderick’s arrogance, Alex’s cowardice, and Ethel’s ambition are all forms of hubris that eventually become the undoing of all three characters: Alex’s pent-up resentment results in Roderick’s accidental death; Alex’s cowardice has Dream curse him with eternal sleep when finally freed, and Ethel must give up her life (sustained by Dream’s magic) to help protect her son.
The Sandman is now streaming on Netflix.
