Christmas is a time for giving, and Neil Gaiman has marked the holiday season by presenting us with a deleted scene from The Sandman.
It's fairly brief, but fans of Gaiman's spin-off story, Death the High Cost of Living, are sure to appreciate this moment, as Death tells her little brother Morpheus that she used to take human form once every century in an attempt to remain grounded and in touch with humanity.
In the episode, "The Sound of Her Wings," Death reveals that she used to be a lot more, well, grim about her reaping, but an encounter with her human counterpart (Didi, presumably) gave way to her far sunnier disposition.
Check out the scene in the player below.
"There is another world that waits for all of us when we close our eyes and sleep — a place called the Dreaming, where The Sandman, Master of Dreams (Tom Sturridge), gives shape to all of our deepest fears and fantasies. But when Dream is unexpectedly captured and held prisoner for a century, his absence sets off a series of events that will change both the dreaming and waking worlds forever. To restore order, Dream must journey across different worlds and timelines to mend the mistakes he’s made during his vast existence, revisiting old friends and foes, and meeting new entities — both cosmic and human — along the way."
The Sandman stars Tom Sturridge as Morpheus, Kirby Howell Baptiste as Death, Boyd Holbrook as The Corinthian, Donna Preston as Despair, Stephen Fry as Gilbert, Mason Alexander Park as Desire, Charles Dance as black magician Roderick Burgess, and Sanjeeve Bhaskar as Cain. Joely Richardson will play Ethel Cripps, while David Thewlis will take on the role of her son John Dee, aka the deranged Dr. Destiny.
The 10-episode first season of The Sandman adapts the first two arcs of the Vertigo comics series, "Preludes and Nocturnes" and "The Doll's House."
The story of The Sandman will continue in Netflix (more details here).