Neil Gaiman’s beloved Sandman comic book series finds a home at Netflix.
Just as Stephen King’s work has found renewed interest in the world of cinema with at least three new films based on his works out this year (Pet Semetary, Doctor Sleep, and IT: Chapter 2), Neil Gaiman has risen to power in the world of television. With American Gods completing its second season earlier this year and Good Omens finding its fan-base on Amazon, his most famous work will now go into development as a Netflix original series.
News of The Sandman heading to television will be met with an intense bout of cautious optimism among Gaiman’s fans and comic book readers in general. The property sat in development hell for many years, getting as close as having Joseph Gordon-Levitt on board to play the character in a film adaptation that fell through back in 2016. The newly announced adaptation sees Gaiman teaming with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice screenwriter David S. Goyer.
The drama comes from Warner Bros. TV in what is being described as the company’s most expensive television project ever, seemingly sparing no expense in its efforts to do justice to one of the most lauded comics of all time. Allan Heinberg (Wonder Woman, Grey’s Anatomy) will write and act as showrunner on the series, with Gaiman and Goyer on as executive producers.
The Sandman is a 75 issue comic book series published by Vertigo Comics and collected into ten volumes, all written by Gaiman with multiple artists throughout its run. It follows Dream, one of the Seven Endless deities including Death, Delirium, Desire et al. Dream goes by many names, and is primarily tasked with maintaining his realm, The Dreaming. The series begins with him in captivity, but the series as a whole is a dreamlike experiment on the nature of storytelling and the inevitability of change.
The series has since been given new life, first as a prequel miniseries written by Gaiman back in 2013 titled The Sandman Overture, and as of August 2018 DC Comics launched a Sandman Universe line of comics designed as a continuation of Gaiman’s story and the lives of its characters. While Vertigo Comics will have had its doors shut by DC after 17 years as of early 2020, the comics are said to be continuing under the DC Black Label imprint.
Source: Hollywood Reporter