Why ‘Sandman’ Renewal Took So Long And What About ‘Wednesday’s’ Future

The followers of ‘Sandman’ had to wait three long months before Neil Gaiman announced on social media that Netflix had decided to renew the series. Fans haven’t stopped wondering how is it possible that the continuation was not assured, taking into account the incredible reception that kept it for seven weeks in the top 10 most watched series on the platform, only dethroned with the arrival of ‘Stranger Things’. Now Head of Scripted Content for Netflix in the US and Canada, Peter Friedlander, explains why it took so long.

“We wanted to invest the time to creatively agree on which experience would be best in the future”explains Friendlander. That’s why Netflix spent the time necessary to have a deep dialogue with the showrunners, Allan Heinberg and Neil Gaiman. The Netflix exec considers himself a huge fan of both, as well as his own “extraordinary” worked: “What they’ve done with the first season is refreshing, it’s iconic, it takes your breath away.. It’s all of that, and knowing that he’s connected with the public is very gratifying.”. It also highlights it “Season 1 was very thought out and intentional”so they wanted to continue on that road for continuation: “what took us the most time is organizing everything”.

Another one of the big Netflix phenomena this year is “Wednesday”, the series based on the Addams’ daughter, which since its recent premiere has positioned itself as the third most watched English-language series on the platform, and continues to count. With all, its continuation has not yet been confirmed. Friedlander himself declined to specify anything, although he did praise the series and the huge impact he’s having. “We are still very early in this cultural phenomenon and there is a lot to absorb and learn from it. It’s amazing how quickly something like this can explode on Netflix”He says. “We want to study and understand why this phenomenon occurs”. While not daring to reveal anything, he says: “I’m optimistic with ‘Wednesday’, we’ll leave it there”.

nothing is decided

Netflix is ​​considering how to launch the next installment of “Sandman” and one of the possibilities would be to do it in parts, so that viewers can’t often see him in his premiere. The series has already done something groundbreaking with its first season, surprisingly releasing an extra episode two weeks after the premiere. However, although executives consider following the format that allowed ‘Stranger Things’ season 4 to break records on the platform, Friedland says “everything is on the table when it comes to ‘Sandman'”.

This means that the sequel may not generally be considered a reboot of the first season, but rather a continuation of the “Sandman” universe, as Netflix has been careful not to refer to the renewal verbatim as a second season since its announcement. “I want to protect the way of telling it so that it is the best experience possible. And part of that means keeping it a secret until we know more!”says Friedlander, who also assures that ‘Sandman’ should not under any circumstances “follow a path that is not yours”.