Netflix’s upcoming adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman comic series has mighty large shoes to fill in terms of translating its signature surreality to the small screen. In a new behind-the-scenes video, Gaiman and some of the show’s cast explain how this new telling of The Sandman is both meant to speak to fans of the original series, and bring a new energy to a classic Vertigo tale. And maybe show off a few props and sets at the same time...
In The Sandman comics and the Netflix series, Morpheus (Tom Sturridge) takes many different names and forms as he spends eternity moving between his realm of dreams and the mortal plane. When Morpheus is captured by occultist Roderick Burgess (Charles Dance), it sets off a series of events that alters the fabric of reality, forcing Morpheus to do everything in his power to set things right. While all of this made for a tremendously spell-binding comic book, one of the big questions looming over the new adaptation is how Netflix would go about bringing that sort of story to life—especially after the long road to get here. Here’s your first look at the magic bringing The Sandman to life...
In the new featurette, Gaiman describes how, while there’s much of the comic’s essence present in the new adaptation, viewers should understand that the show is its own thing. Though it doesn’t show you all that much about which elements of Netflix’s take on The Sandman are going to shift from the source material, certain details like Lucifer (portrayed by Gwendoline Christie) and Morpheus’ ruby, helm, and bag of sand are all present and accounted for, suggesting that they’ll likely feature into the plot in important, familiar ways.
Gaiman is serving as executive producer and co-writer with Allan Heinberg (Wonder Woman) as showrunner. Heinberg and David S. Goyer are also co-writers. There’s currently still no hard date on when The Sandman will debut on Netflix, meaning that now’s probably a good time to go back and actually brush up on the books as more news about the project develops.
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