Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman is so, so close to hitting Netflix and we’re so ready for the (literally) dreamy adaptation.
The highly anticipated series, which comes after the success of Prime Videos Good omens adaptation, will feature a star-studded cast including Tom Sturridge (Dream), Jenna Coleman (Johanna Constantine), Gwendoline Christie (Match), Charles Dance (Roderick Burgess), David Thewlis (John Dee), and Stephen Fry (Gilbert).
we have already treated to an epic trailerand we know that Neil has been following the series incredibly closely – which will be a big relief for fans.
So as we make it through the final wait, here are some of our favorite things Neil has been teasing about The Sandman.
It’s true to the comics
It’s not often we get a super faithful book to film, but it sounds like The Sandman did what many couldn’t.
“Nobody wanted to change what I did,” Neil teased at San Diego Comic Con.
Showrunner Allan Heinberg said he wanted to stay “as true to the book as possible” and that Netflix “has been incredibly supportive of that mission.”
The scene that made Neil cry
Now, we expect to come out completely with shattered hearts and flowing eyes. But even Neil, who knows the story better than anyone, cried during one scene.
The moment, which was released as a teaser for the full series, shows Death (Kirby Howell-Baptiste) visiting an elderly violinist, telling him, “It’s time,” and taking him by the hand,
Neil wrote on Twitter: ‘Little warning. I cried the first time I saw this scene in the finished episode. If you’re wondering why I’m casting Kirby as Death, here’s the reason.”
What made the actors so perfect
Talk about that! Neil has been open about why he casts many of the spectacular actors that will bring The Sandman to life.
Kirby Baptise Howell
Neil certainly wasn’t here for any backlash over Kirby’s casting, which already seems to be the perfect Death.
“Hundreds of talented women from all over the world auditioned and they were brilliant, and none of them were right,” he tweeted.
‘Someone who on the one hand can tell the truth to Dream, but on the other hand can also be the person you would like to meet when your life was over. And then we saw the Kirby Howell-Baptiste (she/her) audition and we knew we had our Death.’
Tom Sturridge
At SDCC, Neil said he saw about 1,000 auditions for Dream, and that casting director Lucinda Syson would have seen nearly 6,000 — but it was Tom who was always the best choice.
Neil explained, “Tom was there in Lucinda’s first email. She sent us four audition tapes and Tom’s was clearly the best and I thought we would soon have a dozen like him.
“He was there and then we saw another 50 or 60 people and then we saw a few hundred more people and it was still just Tom and by the end of the process, I think we’d seen about 1,000 auditions… and it was still Tom .’
Gwendoline Christie
Gwendoline plays Lucifer in The Sandman.
Opening up about her casting, he raved on Twitter: ‘This is @lovegwendoline. She plays Lucifer in Sandman.
“Her Lucifer is subtle, clever, and the most dangerous adversary Morpheus will face. In real life she is the most beautiful person you can imagine. Sandman is waiting for you on Netflix Aug 5. Lucifer is waiting for you in hell.”
Patton Oswalt
Patton is one of the actors who lends his voice to The Sandman, taking on the role of Matthew the Raven.
Neil explained when Netflix announced the casting: “I expected our animals to be CGI, and I was both surprised and excited when the dailies came in, and Dream spoke to… well, a raven. But ravens don’t really talk.
“The question was, could we find an actor who could have you take care of a dead man who was now a bird in the Dreams—someone who isn’t sure what’s going on, or if this is a good idea?
“And can we find a voice actor who was another Sandman fan who queued to get his Sandman comics signed? The answer was: we could if we asked Patton Oswalt (he/him). And Patton was the first person we asked, and the first person we cast, the day before we threw The Sandman on Netflix.”
Representing different genders was part of storytelling early on
The Sandman has been described as being ahead of its time in the way it approaches gender. But to Neil, it seemed like an obvious way to go.
Desire, played by non-binary actor Mason Alexander-Park, was actually always non-binary in the comics.
Asked about representing gender and race in the comics, Neil explained to SDCC, “I don’t know if we were ahead of our time… it was just in there, ingrained in the fundamentals.”
It got bad before it got good
Neil is clearly over the moon with the Netflix adaptation, but recently admitted that he wasn’t always sure a perfect adaptation would take place.
He customs TotalFilm: “I wasn’t confident that we would always come here, but I was confident that the most important thing was to avoid making bad versions.
“Once you’ve made a bad version, you’ll never come back from it. It may sound crazy, but when I was 14 or 15, Howard The Duck was my favorite comic. Steve Gerber, Gene Colan, Frank Brunner, satire, madness, glory…
“I was so excited to hear that George Lucas was making a movie. And then ‘A New Breed Of Hero’ came out. Howard The Duck became a bad joke. I didn’t want that to happen to Sandman and I saw scripts that would have made that possible.”
It’s going to surprise us
It may seem a bit of a cliché when we’re told that movies or TV shows will surprise us, but we’ll give The Sandman the benefit of the doubt.
After all, if there is someone who can traumatize us and leave us in tears, and also give us a heartwarming moment, probably along with a ‘WTF?’ moment… it’s Gaiman.
“You watch episode 1 and think, ‘Oh, I get this: It’s like… Downton Abbey, but with magic,” Then you’ll wonder, “What the hell is this?” through episode 2, when you meet Gregory The Gargoyle in The Dreaming,’ he told Empire.
Episode 5 is about as dark and traumatic as anything will ever get, then you have episode 6, which is probably the most feel-good of all episodes.
“If you didn’t like an episode of Game Of Thrones, you probably won’t like another episode of Game Of Throne. Sandman is all about surprising you. It’s about reinventing yourself. It’s about taking you on a journey you’ve never taken before.’
We couldn’t be more ready.
The Sandman will be released on Netflix on August 5.
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