Neil Gaiman, co-creator of The Sandman TV series and author of the comics it's based on, got a surprise call from a member of the cast who wanted to know about story choices regarding the entirely unrelated Sandman character who appeared in Spider-Man: No Way Home.

In The Sandman, Patton Oswalt plays the voice of Matthew the Raven. He's also known for being a major fan of comics and geek culture, so he's just about the last person who would earnestly confuse a Marvel villain with the brooding protagonist of Netflix's The Sandman. Nevertheless, Oswalt recorded a video of himself asking in a deadpan voice, "How come in Spider-Man: No Way Home, Thomas Haden Church just had the one scene when you see him not in Sandman form? Was there like, script problems?" The footage was played for Gaiman during his interview with Happy Sad Confused, to the great amusement of both him and the audience.

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Church as Sandman was just one of the actors from earlier Spider-Man movies who reprised their roles for the reality-bending plot of Spider-Man: No Way Home, officially bringing them into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Although Marvel's Sandman has nothing to do with Gaiman's Sandman, who was conceived for the Vertigo imprint of DC Comics, both are long-running characters who happened to receive screen adaptations within a year of each other.

Although Gaiman had no answer for Oswalt's question, he took the surprise in good humor, referring to the actor as "Oswald" to even the score after being called "Mr. Gammon" in the video. Returning to the interview, he said, "What I love about that is, you would not think from that video that Patton Oswalt, 30 years ago, was standing in line to get his copy of [The Sandman Book 4] Season of Mists, the hardcover, signed at Comics Experience in Divisadero in San Francisco. But he was there in that line, and would show up afterwards at signings and events." Gaiman went on to talk about how he gradually got to know Oswalt long before The Sandman ever came to television.

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Season 1 of The Sandman was released on Aug. 5 and has enjoyed an enthusiastic reception from viewers, recently becoming the biggest streaming show in the world. Many have praised the performances of the cast, which in addition to Oswalt includes Tom Sturridge as the titular Sandman, as well as Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Gwendoline Christie and the voice of Mark Hamill. The show centers on Dream, Sturridge's personification of dreams and imagination, and his escape from a long imprisonment at human hands.

All eleven episodes of The Sandman's first season can be streamed now on Netflix. The series has not yet been officially greenlit for a second season.

Source: YouTube