“The Sandman,” Netflix’s TV adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s sprawling comic book series, is approaching its third week at the top of Netflix’s Global Top 10 list. The series has racked up over 127.5 million hours viewed, but Gaiman thinks that “may not be enough” for Netflix to renew it for a second season.
Answering some questions on Twitter over the weekend, Gaiman explained why fans shouldn’t assume the show’s massive popularity will lead to a Season 2.
“Because ‘Sandman’ is a really expensive show,” Gaiman tweeted, responding to a commenter asking why “S2 is even a question.”
Gaiman continued, “And for Netflix to release the money to let us make another season we have to perform incredibly well. So yes, we’ve been the top show in the world for the last two weeks. That still may not be enough.”
“The Sandman” is currently in the Top 10 in 93 countries on Netflix, and is No. 1 in countries including the U.S., the U.K., India, Australia, Canada, Brazil, Italy, Greece, Israel, Portugal, Spain, Ukraine, Pakistan and many more.
In her positive review of the series, Variety chief TV critic Caroline Framke wrote, “The show works hard to set itself apart from those Netflix attempts at reanimating beloved properties that instead flattened them out. Most notable… is that the season metes out its material with an economical approach (no episode runs over 54 minutes) and smart narrative structure.”
She continued: “With enough forward-facing momentum and the might of Gaiman’s ever-complicating lore behind, Netflix’s ‘The Sandman’ justifies its existence — and the potential for so much more story to come — time and time again.”
It’s up to Netflix whether we will get to see it.