The Sandman will continue its drama with another serving of episodes. What will happen in this next installment with Morpheus? That remains to be seen. We do not know when these episodes will hit Netflix but we do know that there will be new characters and cast members coming into the fold for The Sandman season two. 

Netflix released a ton of information about the new faces we will need in The Sandman’s next season. We will get to see gods like Loki, Odin, and Thor, but they will certainly be different from the MCU characters we’ve grown to love.

All the New Characters and Cast Members Appearing in The Sandman Season Two

Ruairi O’Connor (he/him) as Orpheus

Official description: “Orpheus, the poet, musician, and oracle, is the only child of Dream and the muse, Calliope. Orpheus is an idealistic, romantic, young man – and very much his father’s son – until tragedy strikes and reveals to him the true nature of love.”

Freddie Fox (he/him) as Loki

Official Description: “…the god of chaos. Loki is a charming, seductive shapeshifter. The smartest and most dangerous person in any room, Loki is utterly irresistible and never to be trusted.” That certainly sounds on brand for this famous Greek god.

Clive Russell (he/him) as Odin

Official Description: “…the father of Thor, and blood-brother to Loki. He is a longtime ally of Dream’s, but finds himself driven to desperate extremes in his efforts to stave off Ragnarök.”

Laurence O’Fuarain (he/him) as Thor

Official Description: “…the storm god. With his hammer Mjollnir, Thor is brusque, rude, and driven entirely by his appetites – for food and drink, for battle, and for sex.

Ann Skelly (she/her) as Nuala and Douglas Booth (he/him) as Cluracan

Official Description: “…royal emissaries from the court of Faerie. Nuala and Cluracan are siblings who are opposites in every way. Nuala is responsible, empathetic, and principled. Cluracan is an impulsive rogue who lives for pleasure. They disagree about everything, except their devotion to one another.”

Jack Gleeson (he/him) as Puck

Official Description: “…a malevolent hobgoblin who serves as the royal jester to King Auberon of Faerie. Puck is fascinated by mortals and enjoys nothing more than making sport of them for his own amusement. He’s also the inspiration for Shakespeare’s Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”  

Indya Moore (she/her) as Wanda

Official Description: “…a professional driver and security agent for an exclusive travel firm. Wanda proves herself to be an indispensable guide on an Endless road trip to the waking world.”

Steve Coogan (he/him) as the Voice of Barnabas

Official Description: “…the canine companion of the Endless’ prodigal brother. Barnabas is loyal and loving, but an outspoken cynic. He’s man’s best friend and man’s sharpest critic.”

I know nothing about Barnabas but somehow I feel like he will be my favorite character. Let’s see how all of these new characters will play into The Sandman season two.

The post THE SANDMAN Announces Its New Season 2 Characters and Cast, Including Thor, Loki, and More appeared first on Nerdist.

Netflix’s adaptation of The Sandman premiered its first season in August 2022. The series brought the comic book series by writer Neil Gaiman and a number of artists to the screen in a faithful retelling. In many instances, it brought the comic book panels to life. We spent time with Morpheus and Dream, but we barely got to know the whimsical and fantastical world of the Endless. However, it’s time for more stories. Last November, Netflix confirmed The Sandman is a go for more. Fans of the Endless rejoice. Especially because Netflix has just revealed the three new cast members who will round out the rest of Morpheus’ family: Delirium, the Prodigal, and their oldest sibling, Destiny.

The Sandman Announces It’s Delirium, Destruction, and Destiny, Shares Season 2 Teaser Trailer

The Endless are now complete. The Sandman season two has revealed new cast for its upcoming episodes. Hannah‘s Esmé Creed-Miles (she/her) is joining as fan-favorite Delirium. Revenge‘s Barry Sloane (he/him) has signed on as Destruction, also known as The Prodigal. (If you aren’t familiar with Gaiman’s comic books that moniker is a big hint at his role in the story.) And Primary Colors‘ Adrian Lester (he/him) will fill the role of the eldest Endless, Destiny.

In addition to this casting news, The Sandman season two has also revealed its first teaser trailer. Check it out below.

The Sandman Season 2 Shares New Look at Dream and Desire

Netflix celebrated The Sandman‘s 35th anniversary by announcing more episodes of its hit series were officially in production. And if that weren’t enough, the streamer actually gave us a behind-the-scenes look at Tom Sturridge (he/him, Dream) and Mason Alexander Park (they/them, Desire) in action. We certainly feel excited by this brief new glimpse of the show.

Additionally, Neil Gaiman penned a letter to fans celebrating The Sandman‘s journey and evolution. The letter can be read in full here, but in it, Gaiman notes of the Netflix series:

This week we officially restart production on the next sequence of stories of The Sandman for Netflix. Genius show runner Allan Heinberg and the countless people in front of and behind the camera are building something endlessly special, and bringing these stories to life in a way that would once have been unimaginable.

A journey is beginning that will take us from Destiny’s garden to Hell, from the Heart of the Dreaming to Ancient Greece and revolutionary France, and from there to places even I cannot quite imagine on the screen. I will be patient. Good things are coming.

The Sandman Teases New Episodes

To celebrate the new episodes of The Sandman, Netflix even released a short teaser featuring Morpheus’ helm. And we got a logo, “The dream continues.” We love it. A release from Netflix also shares that the show will return with even more new “episodes and stories to be adapted from multiple The Sandman graphic novels.” For now, though, we have not received confirmation on episode count and story details. We will, however, get The Sandman profile icons.

More new episodes of The Sandman were not guaranteed at any point, even with the show’s success. In a since-deleted tweet, Gaiman noted the show “is really expensive” and that for Netflix to order another season, The Sandman had to “perform incredibly well.” Given that how Netflix measures success is not entirely transparent, we’re not positive what kind of metrics led to this continuation. But we’re glad to see that they have.

More About the The Sandman‘s Next Chapter

Offering us more information about this new, next chapter of The Sandman, Gaiman notes in a release:

Millions upon millions of people have welcomed and watched and loved The Sandman on Netflix, from established Sandman fans to people who were simply curious, and then became obsessed with the Lord of Dreams, his family and their goings-on. It gives me unbelievable pleasure to say that, working with Netflix and Warner Bros., Allan Heinberg, David Goyer and I will be bringing even more of The Sandman stories to life. There are some astonishing stories waiting for Morpheus and the rest of them (not to mention more members of the Endless Family to meet). Nobody is going to be happier about this than the Sandman cast and crew: they are the biggest Sandman fans there are. And now it’s time to get back to work. There’s a family meal ahead, after all. And Lucifer is waiting for Morpheus to return to Hell…

What we do know is that we’re looking forward to seeing more of the Endless. Season one of The Sandman brought a story that showed us why adaptations exist. It brought in a moving deep cut from the Hellblazer comics. And it even wrapped up with a surprise bonus episode. The original Sandman comics series includes ran for 75 issues. So, the series has plenty of material to pull from. The show has plenty more rich, sometimes twisted characters to introduce and explore.

As for when the release date for the new episodes of The Sandman will be, it’s likely going to take a moment.

Originally published on November 3, 2022.

The post THE SANDMAN Season 2 Reveals New Casting for Delirium, Destiny, and The Prodigal appeared first on Nerdist.

Even ghosts need a day job. That’s where we find the pair of British boy spirits at the heart of Netflix’s new series, Dead Boy Detectives. Comic book characters created by Neil Gaiman and Matt Wagner in the pages of The Sandman, the duo eventually appeared in several DC and Vertigo titles before headlining their own 12-issue series plus a number of other short spurts. The streaming giant recently shared the first trailer for Dead Boy Detectives, which finds ghost gumshoes Charles and Edwin up against loads of supernatural problems, and death itself. And now, we even know when the series will arrive.

Dead Boy Detectives Full Trailer

Weeks ahead of the show’s debut, Netflix released the full trailer of the series. The Sandman spinoff takes place in the same universe, which is why Kirby Howell-Baptiste’s Death of the Endless pops up. The two supernatural P.I.s need to continue avoiding her if they want to stay on the job. But she’s not the only one looking for them.

Dead Boy Detectives Teaser Trailer and Images

Steve Yockey, creator of Max’s The Flight Attendant, developed Dead Boy Detectives for Max originally. Given that streaming service’s rampant offloading, we’re lucky Netflix decided to pick it up. This also means this series can officially exist within Netflix’s Sandman universe. Good news for you, Gaimanites out there. The two dead boys had previously appeared on Doom Patrol, but those were different versions of the characters and won’t related to this show.

Netflix recently revealed that Dead Boy Detectives will release on April 25, sharing the news alongside a slew of new images from the series.

Click To View Gallery

Dead Boy Detectives‘ Synopsis

The official synopsis for the Dead Boy Detectives series is as follows:

Do you have a pesky ghost haunting you? Has a demon stolen your core memories? You may want to ring the Dead Boy Detectives. Meet Edwin Payne (George Rexstrew) and Charles Rowland (Jayden Revri), “the brains” and “the brawn” behind the Dead Boy Detectives agency. Teenagers born decades apart who find each other only in death, Edwin and Charles are best friends and ghosts… who solve mysteries. They will do anything to stick together – including escaping evil witches, Hell and Death herself. With the help of a clairvoyant named Crystal (Kassius Nelson) and her friend Niko (Yuyu Kitamura), they are able to crack some of the mortal realm’s most mystifying paranormal cases.

What Is the Release Date for Dead Boy Detectives?

As mentioned, Netflix has officially revealed that the Dead Boy Detectives series will release on April 25. The trailer looks fun, and so we’re hoping that translates to the full series.

Originally published on November 11, 2023.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd.

The post DEAD BOY DETECTIVES Shares Full Trailer, Release Date, and Images appeared first on Nerdist.

In the world of The Sandman existence does not end with death. It doesn’t even end with Death. The end of life is just the beginning of something new. For some that means suffering in Hell, but for two young men it means getting to work back on Earth, specifically at Netflix. Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman spinoff comic series is also getting an adaptation from the streaming site, and the first full trailer for Dead Boy Detectives shows that sometimes the best people to investigate a murder are fellow ghosts.

But being dead doesn’t mean you don’t have anything to worry about. The afterlife comes with dangers worse than dying.

What’s a murder victim hoping for closure to do when no one alive wants to solve your case? Find someone who isn’t alive to investigate. That’s the premise behind Netflix’s upcoming adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s Dead Boy Detectives series. The Sandman spinoff takes place in the same universe, which is why Kirby Howell-Baptiste’s Death of the Endless pops up. The two supernatural P.I.s need to continue avoiding her if they want to stay on the job. But she’s not the only one looking for them. Here’s the show’s official synopsis:

Edwin and Charles are best friends, ghosts… and the best detectives on the Mortal plane. They will do anything to stick together – including escaping evil witches, Hell and Death herself. With the help of a clairvoyant named Crystal and her friend Niko, they are able to crack some of the mortal realm’s most mystifying paranormal cases.

The series stars George Rexstrew, Jayden Revri, Kassius Nelson, and Yuyu Kitamura. (The show is not connected to the version of the characters seen on Doom Patrol.) Dead Boy Detectives will get to work when the show debuts at Netflix on April 25. Assuming something worse than death or Death stops them from investigating before then.

The post DEAD BOY DETECTIVES Are on the Case in THE SANDMAN Spinoff’s First Full Trailer appeared first on Nerdist.

With The Sandman available to stream on Netflix and more episodes coming soon, many viewers are no doubt wondering just what the powers and abilities of the principal character and his siblings are. Are they gods? Demons? Actually, Neil Gaiman’s Endless, as Sandman’s family is known, is neither. But also more. The Endless are extremely powerful anthropomorphic embodiments of the universe’s natural forces. And they’ve existed for billions of years.

The Endless are each the seven children of even older entities, known as Mother Night and Father Time. Destiny was born first, followed by Death, then Dream, Destruction, the twins known as Desire and Despair, and finally, Delirium, the youngest. But what individual powers do The Sandman‘s Endless possess? They share many of the same abilities, but they do differ in a few key ways. Let’s take a look at all the powers we can expect to see come to life in The Sandman series on Netflix.

The Endless’ Powers on The Sandman

The Powers of Dream (Morpheus)

Dream is the true name of the titular Sandman, who is also known as Morpheus. He is the anthropomorphic embodiment of dreams, hence the name. He is one of the most powerful beings in the universe and, like his other siblings in the Endless, is immortal. If Dream is killed in any way, his essence will simply fuse with another being and continue on.

Aside from controlling and influencing the dream life of all living creatures, Dream or Morpheus has other incredible powers in The Sandman‘s world. He is capable of wielding great magic and is also capable of altering reality itself. Dream’s powers also include the ability to teleport anywhere he wishes to go, and he can shapeshift as well. He is almost impossible to injure, but he can be captured. As one of the Endless, he can literally be in all places at once. Morpheus feeds on the dreams of humanity but in turn, can give ordinary humans any dream or nightmare he thinks of.

Although innately powerful, Dream is made even more so with the help of several powerful talismans. The first of Dream’s tools is the Sand of Sleep, which can instantly render a mortal into unconsciousness and can release dreams into the real world. Additionally, his ruby Dreamstone focuses his powers and is exceedingly dangerous in the hands of a mortal. And finally, Dream possesses the Helm of Dreams, a helmet made from the bones of a dead god, which protects Dream from almost any harm.

Death’s Powers and Abilities

Sandman’s big sister is Death, and although a happy, cheerful sort, she is the anthropomorphic embodiment of the end of life, just as her name suggests. She is Dream’s closest sibling and often gives him advice. Presenting as a young woman, Death is there at the end of every living being’s life to guide them to whatever afterlife lies beyond this one.

Having said that, Death does not personally take any souls to the next realm, she merely prepares them to accept they are no longer alive. Since people are dying constantly everywhere, she is nearly omnipresent on Earth at all times. Death’s powers allow her to see spirits on Earth, and in fact, she can leave certain souls in the plane to wander as ghosts. She loves her job and does it very well and is perhaps the most well-adjusted of the Endless family.

The Omniscient Powers of The Sandman’s Destiny

Destiny is the personification of fate itself. In The Sandman universe, his true powers lie in his vast and infinite knowledge. Although technically blind, he can “see” the fate (or possible fate) of every living being in existence. He knows everything there is to know about everyone’s past, present, and future. In fact, he can see even the smallest details that make up the universe. To paraphrase a movie title, he knows all about “everything, everywhere, all at once.”

Destiny has a giant book literally chained to his person, which contains the story of every person known to exist. A book he’s been carrying around for literally 10 billion years. (It must be getting heavy by now.) Like the rest of his Endless family, he is immortal. Destiny is the one member of the Endless Sandman writer Neil Gaiman didn’t create. New Teen Titans and Crisis on Infinite Earths creator Marv Wolfman originally created him back in 1972.

Delirium’s Powers

Delirium, who was previously known as Delight, is one of the hardest to describe members of the Endless. She is Dream’s youngest sister and the absolute ruler of her realm, a world that controls both sanity and madness. Her realm is abstract, filled with constantly morphing colors and shapes. Delirium’s powers in The Sandman include shapeshifting, and she is constantly changing forms to suit her changing mood.

Delirium also has telepathic abilities, as well as those of precognition. She can teleport and has almost total mastery of all forms of magic. Most importantly, she has omnipresence. This means she is everywhere on Earth at every moment, although most can’t perceive her presence. This is a trait she shares with most of her siblings in the Endless.

The Powers of The Sandman‘s Desire

The entity known as Desire is the literal personification of want and of humanity’s propensity to crave what it cannot have. Desire lords over all human feelings of physical and emotional need, as well as the feeling of satisfaction when one has attained what they wished for. They are known as the most malicious of the Endless. And they particularly like to mess with Dream. Desire is androgynous and genderless and appears in whatever way they please, thanks to their shapeshifting powers in The Sandman. Like their sibling in the Endless, Desire also has control over all magics, and is an omnipresent force in the world, appearing everywhere and anywhere they choose.

Despair’s Powers

Despair is the twin sister of Desire. But she couldn’t be more different, certainly in appearance. While Desire is physically beautiful, Despair is the opposite. She lords over all human feelings of hopelessness, sadness, and general anxiety. Like the rest of her siblings, Despair can be anywhere and everywhere in the world at any given moment. She also has total mastery over sorcery in The Sandman and the power to shapeshift too. Although vastly different from her twin Desire, the two of them have a special animosity towards Dream and have schemed against him repeatedly over the centuries.

The Powers of Destruction in The Sandman

Destruction is one of the most interesting of the Endless, as he is the only one to totally abandon his kingdom and his duties. As his name suggests, Destruction was the ruler over all ruination. Despite the name, Destruction was not a negative being. Only with the destruction of the old can new things and new ideas come to fruition after all. But with the advent of man’s discovery of science, he knew humanity would wield ultimate weapons like the atom bomb. Despondent, he abandoned his kingdom and became known as the prodigal sibling. Like the rest of his family in The Sandman, he has powers over magic and shapeshifting and is omnipresent in all places on Earth.

The Restrictions of the Endless’ Powers in The Sandman

Despite their awesome power, each member of the Endless is bound by a very specific set of rules. None of them can harm one of their siblings or risk losing their powers. They also can’t fall in love with a mortal. The only member of the Endless not bound by any rules is Death, who exists beyond the need for rules. Although not all appear in season one of The Sandman, we expect each member of the Endless to appear when more episodes arrive. We can’t wait to see their powers and abilities come to life.

Originally published on July 22, 2022.

The post THE SANDMAN’s Endless Family Powers and Abilities, Explained appeared first on Nerdist.

The Sandman premiered on Netflix on August 5 with 10 episodes. The TV adaptation of the comic book series by Neil Gaiman and many artists brought the story faithfully to the screen. Many scenes in the show reflect their comic book counterparts directly in dialogue and framing. The show brought Dream and his world and siblings to the screen, even giving us entirely new versions of the characters to love. And while we don’t know whether Netflix will grant The Sandman a second season, the streaming service dropped a surprise bonus episode of The Sandman on Friday. This two-part bonus The Sandman episode tells two stories from the comics.

The two parts of the episode will be animated and live-action. “A Dream of a Thousand Cats” will be animated and “Calliope” will be live-action. Both parts feature all-star casts, too.

“A Dream of a Thousand Cats” was issue #18 of The Sandman written by Gaiman with art from Kelley Jones, inks by Malcolm Jones III, colors by Robbie Busch, and letters by Todd Klein. It tells the story of a kitten who meets some interesting cats in a grave yard and learns the history of cats. The episode’s director, Hisko Hulsing, said in the release, “We endeavored to make the animated ‘A Dream of a Thousand Cats’ as mesmerizing and hypnotic as we could by utilizing the magic of real oil paintings on canvas. We combined the paintings with classically drawn 2D animation, based on realistic 3D animation of telepathic cats in order to create a trippy world that feels both grounded and dreamy at the same time.”

The cast for “A Dream of a Thousand Cats” includes:

• Tom Sturridge as “Dream”
• Sandra Oh as “The Prophet”
• Rosie Day as “The Tabby Kitten”
• David Gyasi as “The Grey Cat”
• Joe Lycett as “The Black Cat”
• Neil Gaiman as “Crow/Skull Bird”
• James McAvoy as “Golden-Haired Man”
• David Tennant as “Don”
• Georgia Tennant as ”Laura Lynn”
• Michael Sheen as “Paul”
• Anna Lundberg as “Marion”
• Nonso Anozie as “Wyvern”
• Diane Morgan as “Gryphon”
• Tom Wu as “Hippogriff”

“Calliope” is from The Sandman #17 written by Neil Gaiman with art from Kelley Jones, inks by Malcolm Jones III, colors by Robbie Busch, and letters by Todd Klein. It tells a brutal story about a writer who kidnaps Calliope and exploits her as a muse. I hope they’ll dial some of the story’s violence back for the on-screen adaptation. The guest cast for “Calliope” is as follows:

• Melissanthi Mahut as “Calliope”
• Arthur Darvill as “Richard Madoc”
• Nina Wadia as “Fate Mother”
• Souad Faress as “Fate Crone”
• Dinita Gohil as “Fate Maiden”
• Kevin Harvey as “Larry”
• Amita Suman as “Nora”
• Derek Jacobi as “Erasmus Fry”

The two-part bonus episode of The Sandman is available on Netflix now.

Amy Ratcliffe is the Editor-in-Chief for Nerdist and the author of Star Wars: Women of the Galaxy, The Art of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, The Jedi Mind, and more. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

The post Surprise, Netflix Just Dropped a Bonus THE SANDMAN Episode appeared first on Nerdist.

Why does anyone bother making or watching adaptations of great stories? If we already love something, why do we need to experience it in a different medium? Especially when adaptations so often disappoint the people who care about the source material the most. The Sandman‘s sixth episode, “The Sound of Her Wings,” is why. The Netflix series did more than introduce new fans to the beauty of Neil Gaiman’s Death. The Sandman gave old fans new ways to appreciate a beloved character with an episode and performance that exemplifies the best of what adaptations can and should be.

Death has always been one of the most revered characters of Neil Gaiman’s comic book series, and with good reason. She stands in stark contrast to pop culture’s ubiquitous Grim Reaper. Instead of a stern hooded figure of doom, Gaiman’s Death is loving and lively. She’s downright perky and positive, but without being annoying or insincere. Death of the Endless truly cares about us. She has genuine compassion for everyone and greets us with “a kind word and a friendly face” rather than the stoic stare of a supernatural stranger. Who wouldn’t want to meet her instead of her typical counterparts?

Kirby Howell-Baptiste’s moving performance in The Sandman fully captured Gaiman’s Death, especially her empathy and compassion. But we didn’t need a TV show to appreciate the character. What justifies this adaptation—and in turn the concept of adaptations entirely—is how both Howell-Baptiste and the show brought new elements and a shared understanding of Death to life.

Much of the episode’s dialogue came straight from the comic, but it also deftly expanded on Death’s feelings about humanity and how she views her unenviable job. (Both the writing and performance did so without feeling corny. They felt like natural explorations and extensions of the original character and story.) According to Gaiman himself, much of this new material stems from a Death short story called “Winter’s Tale.” Even though people fear Death and aren’t always ready for her “gift,” she gives it to them anyway without pride, ego or contempt. “People feel as pleased to have been born as if they did it themselves,” she said. Yet Death doesn’t hold that arrogance against anyone. We get the very best she has to offer because she knows that’s what we need. And what she has to offer is understanding, sympathy, kindness, even when we probably don’t deserve it.

But if dying is hard, being the manifestation of death is even harder. We only die once, but she will experience every single death from the beginning of time until the end. That responsibility inevitably wore on her, as it would any caring individual. She even once considered abandoning her post like her brother, “the Prodigal.” But then she had a realization that added new emotional depth to The Sandman‘s Death. “I used to think I had to do this all by myself,” she told Morpheus. She came to understand that at the end she’s there with us. “I’m holding their hand and they’re holding mine. I’m not alone when I’m doing my job,” she said.

That might be the single most memorable sentiment from The Sandman‘s first season. We are there for Death just as much as she’s there for us. Forget not being alone when we die—meeting her is so much more than that. When we embark on this unknown journey we’ll have someone we care about with us as we take the first step. She knows “most of us will be glad for the company of a friend” when we need one the most.

Even her lack of answers about what awaits us in the next life is beautiful in its own way because it’s honest. Death is not there to tell us where we go. Nor is she there to tell us everything will be all right. Death offers no more guarantees than life.

Dying doesn’t seem as terrifying when you imagine this Death will by your side. The act of dying on The Sandman—whether in old age doing what you love, or alone in an alleyway far too young—certainly wasn’t horrible. It wasn’t defined by sadness or anger, nor even by the finality of life. Instead it was about the comfort of holding a hand and the soft sound of wings.

And seeing and hearing all of that in The Sandman was powerful in a way than reading about them isn’t. Not better or worse, just different. Because while no TV show or movie can ever fully capture every aspect of what makes a book or comic great, live-action adaptations bring elements the written word or a static illustration inherently can’t. Things like the the sound of a violinist’s final performance or the perfect musical score that plays as he leaves this world. And they can’t capture the tangible warmth and presence Death brings to a room. Or the honesty in her face as she conveys genuine encouragement and patient compassion all in a single tilt of her head.

No matter how good the episode’s script or direction was, though, it wouldn’t have mattered without Kirby Howell-Baptiste’s performance. The episode could have featured the greatest cinematography and music ever created and it wouldn’t have mattered if she didn’t fundamentally understand and capture the best of the character. Without her new fans wouldn’t know why readers have always loved Gaiman’s Death and old ones would have been disappointed. Instead she gave us the best of both worlds with something both familiar and new.

When we read we’re interpreting a single writer’s work in our own way. We might all see some of the same traits in Death from the comics, but ultimately she is unique to each of us because we bring our own perspectives and experiences to the character. I might picture her as more bubbly than you. Meanwhile you might imagine how she walks or moves in a totally different way. And we almost certainly don’t “hear” the same exact voice when we read her dialogue. Those subtle differences shape how we think and feel about comic book Death, and that fundamentally “changes” who she is to each person.

But now we all have a singular version of Death to share. When we’re watching the show we’re not filling in certain aspects of the character as we imagine them on the page. Instead we’re seeing how one actor did all of that. And not only did Howell-Baptiste bring the best, most important aspects of Gaiman’s Death to life, she imbued it with her own humanity. Through her we’re seeing an enduring idea through the eyes of two artists. Obviously not every live-action adaptation gives us a shared perspective we like or want. But even fewer give us one to truly love the way Kirby Howell-Baptiste did.

The existence of Netflix’s The Sandman will never change the existence of Neil Gaiman’s comic book. Nor will Netflix’s Death change how you think about the version you first met on the page. All that’s changed is that we now have two versions of Death to appreciate, each in a different medium that offer elements the other one can’t. The two aren’t competing with each other or for our admiration, either. They complement one another, and in doing each elevates their counterpart. That’s the best you can hope from any adaptation of a great story. That’s the reason adaptations are worth attempting even if they so often disappoint us. When done right they give us something new to love while reminding us why we loved the original in the first place. And you can’t do that better than “The Sound of Her Wings.”

Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. You can follow him on Twitter at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.

The post THE SANDMAN’s ‘The Sound of Her Wings’ Is Why Adaptations Exist appeared first on Nerdist.

Netflix’s The Sandman is a loving tribute to the original comic published by DC Comics’ Vertigo imprint. Many of its characters remain consistent from page to screen, even if their genders are different in the show. In a world where comics and their Hollywood adaptations have never felt more separate, The Sandman’s attention to detail in regards to its source material feels revolutionary. In one instance, The Sandman tucks in a deep cut from John Constantine’s Hellblazer comics. This small yet vital mention adds another heartbreaking dimension to one of the series’ saddest moments. 

The Sandman adapts the comic written by Neil Gaiman, with art by Sam Kieth, Kelley Jones, Mike Dringenberg, Shawn McManus, Colleen Doran, and more. The story chronicles the journey of Dream (Tom Sturridge), also known as Morpheus of the Endless. Dream is responsible for protecting a space known as The Dreaming, a place of infinite possibility and power channeled from the dreams of humanity. Dream is captured and imprisoned for a period of one hundred years on Earth. After this, The Dreaming falls into disrepair, with Dream’s objects of office—a helm, the ruby Dreamstone, and a pouch of sand—scattered across the Earth and in Hell. As Dream sets off to recover each object one by one, he comes across a powerful, irreverent magic user named Johanna Constantine (Jenna Coleman) who is in possession of his sand pouch. 

Johanna Constantine is based off of the occult detective John Constantine. His appearances in the Sandman comics and in his Hellblazer solo series paint him as a deeply flawed yet charming master manipulator. Magicians are often portrayed as wise and noble in traditional English fantasy stories; however, Constantine is the dramatic opposite. He’s foul-mouthed, difficult to trust, and cursed with an uncanny ability to make terrible decisions impacting his loved ones. Johanna Constantine is canonically John’s ancestor from the 18th century in DC Comics. But Coleman’s portrayal in The Sandman is the most faithful adaptation of the character in live-action. 

This faithfulness to both Constantine’s character and Hellblazer comics is heartbreakingly clear in episode three of the Sandman TV series. In “Dream A Little Dream of Me,” a deep cut reference cements Constantine’s tragic love life. Johanna retrieves Dream’s sand pouch from the apartment of her ex-girlfriend, Rachel (Eleanor Fanyinka). While there, Johanna’s former flame reveals that she called up several of her exes in order to find Johanna. This list includes Oliver, a reference to the Constantine: the Hellblazer comics series by Ming Doyle, James Tynion IV, and Riley Rossmo. In this comic series, John Constantine dated a man of the same name. Oliver met a terrible fate after he made a deal with a demon to condemn his soul to Hell in exchange for the safety of his two daughters. It is a tragic end that is unfortunately common for many of Constantine’s lovers. 

Referencing this particular moment in Constantine’s publication history is significant. It underscores The Sandman’s commitment to its source material as well as the queerness of its characters. John Constantine is one of the most high profile bisexual characters in DC Comics. And the Constantine: the Hellblazer series (2015-2016) remains the most thorough exploration of his queer sexuality in comics. Taking an element of Constantine: the Hellblazer and putting it into The Sandman affirms the show’s depth of lore. And it also cements Oliver and John’s relationship as an indispensable part of his persona.

The Sandman placing this relationship within the context of Johanna and Rachel’s story makes it even more heartbreaking. The version of Rachel that Johanna had been speaking to was later revealed to be an illusion. The real Rachel lays wasting away in her bed, her body emaciated from holding onto Dream’s sand pouch. It’s a cruel reminder to Constantine that her magical prowess always has an adverse effect on the people around her. Johanna thought she was protecting Rachel by vanishing from her life. But she ended up inadvertently dooming Rachel anyway, just as John did with Oliver in Constantine: the Hellblazer. 

By reimagining John Constantine as Johanna in the show, The Sandman queers his original relationship with Rachel. But this happens while also providing a callback to the comics run that radically reimagined his character in the 21st century. This establishes Constantine’s bisexuality in the most Hellblazer way possible, as the phantasm of a former lover lays out the tragic timeline of Constantine’s past.

The Sandman’s Oliver seems to have escaped his sad comics fate; however, viewers never truly know what happened between him and Johanna. Regardless, The Sandman makes it clear that Oliver still remains a ghostly presence in this iteration of Constantine’s life, a fact that haunts both comics fans and now emergent fans of the show. 

The post THE SANDMAN Has a Heartbreaking Deep Cut From HELLBLAZER Comics appeared first on Nerdist.

The Sandman is a moniker that’s fairly popular in pop culture. There’s a Sandman in Marvel, one of Spider-Man’s sinister foes. There are many Sandman references in music, from The Chordettes’ ’50s classic “Mr. Sandman” to Metallica’s well-known hit “Enter Sandman.” The Sandman has also appeared in many other songs, as well as TV shows, movies, and, yes, comics. And now, Netflix is bringing to life one of the most famous of all the Sandman. Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman is coming to the platform as a live-action series. But where did all these tales of sandy men begin? Well, the concept of the Sandman found its start in European mythology. Let’s meet the Sandman of folklore.

Who Is the Sandman of Mythology?

Like with many figures of mythology, the Sandman has convoluted origins. And the roles he plays across fairy tales and stories are complex as well. It seems like the figure of the Sandman most likely got its start in oral tradition, complicating our record of the mysterious being. But many agree the first noted use of Sandman came in 18th-century German dictionaries, which chronicled the idiom “der Sandmann kommt.” This phrase appeared to mean, “The Sandman is coming.” But metaphorically, it referred to the idea that someone looked as though they were about to fall asleep or were rubbing their eyes… As though sand has poured into them.

A Dark Sandman

From there, the mythology of the Sandman split. On the one hand, a dark folklore figure emerged. In an 1818 story by German author E. T. A. Hoffmann titled Der Sandmann, the Sandman takes the form of an evil creature. In this fairy tale, the Sandman is a monstrous mythological figure who throws sand in the eyes of children. And if they do not sleep, their eyes fall out. By all accounts, it is an incredibly creepy and psychological tale.

A Lighter Incarnation

On the other hand, famous fairy tale author, Hans Christian Andersen, gave the Sandman a kinder rendition in his 1841 fairy tale. Hans Christian Andersen’s Ole Lukøje presents us with the titular Sandman, Ole Lukøje. This iteration of the Sandman makes children drowsy and sends them off to sleep. He rewards good children with pleasant dreams. Bad children do receive punishment. But their punishment simply equates to not receiving any dreams.

In the earliest translations of this fairy tale and in the original German, this Sandman was said to throw sweet cream in children’s eyes. The Sandman would do this both to avoid getting spotted by the children and so the children would begin to close their eyes on way to sleep. However, as the translating process continued, this cream transformed into a more recognizable powder, a.k.a. sand.

What Does the Sandman Do in Fairy Tales?

In the end, the more benevolent version of the Sandman won out culturally. Like many other myths, the Sandman story exists to answer a question. In this case, it explains why we have grit in our eyes in the morning. The Sandman myth is the kind of story that gives an answer to questions a child might ask.

Ultimately, the colloquial Sandman is seen as a friendly sprite, a figure that often takes the shape of a kindly old man. This folkloric creature lulls people to sleep and brings pleasant dreams to his charges. Using magic sand sprinkled into the eyes of the sleeping, the Sandman brings good dreams to sleepers, leaving only a fine dusting of sand in their eyes. In some respects, the Sandman is also seen as the bringer of stories. After all, what are dreams but tales our brains concoct?

Ultimately, myths and folklore serve as the basis for many of our modern stories and stories of the Sandman are no different. As viewers enjoy the Sandman’s incarnations on Netflix, in Marvel movies, and more, knowing the original mythology will only enhance their experience.

The post Who Is the Sandman of Mythology and Folklore? appeared first on Nerdist.

After many decades of development, Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman is finally coming to live-action, thanks to a new series on Netflix. DC Comics’ Sandman, known by his proper names Dream and Morpheus, is the master of the Dreaming, an otherworldly realm where our dreams and nightmares originate. He is one of the Endless, an immortal family with a long and tangled history. But which characters from the comics make it into season one? Here are the key players for the first season of The Sandman on Netflix:

Dream/Morpheus (Tom Sturridge)

Dream, or Morpheus as he is also known, is the titular Sandman of the series. He is one of the Endless, living embodiments of human attributes that have existed for billions of years. He has complete control of the Dreaming, the realm where humans spend one-third of their lives. And he has nearly unlimited magical abilities. In the comic book series, a power-hungry human traps Dream for decades, letting his magical totems fall into the wrong hands. Much of the early Sandman stories involved him getting them back, and we expect the Netflix series to start out the same way.

Lucienne (Vivienne Acheampong)

The head librarian in the Dreaming, Lucien (in the Netflix series, spelled Lucienne) lives in Morpheus’ castle, where the books on everyone’s lives and stories reside. In the original comics, Lucien was a man, but they gender swap him for the Netflix series. When Dream vanished for a century, Lucien was effectively in charge of the Dreaming. But when Morpheus returns, Lucien becomes the Sandman’s right hand again. Their relationship is respectful but sometimes prickly.

Cain and Abel (Sanjeev Bhaskar and Asim Chaudhry)

Cain and Abel were actually DC Comics characters that existed in horror anthology titles from the 1970s, like House of Mystery and House of Secrets. But Neil Gaiman reinvented them for The Sandman, as dreams that are manifestations of the Biblical characters of the same name. They are, essentially, the first murderer and the first murder victim. And in the Dreaming, Cain is constantly killing Abel over and over again, in an endless cycle. They also have an adorable pet Gargoyle.

Matthew the Raven (Patton Oswalt)

Matthew the Raven is another character Neil Gaiman reimagined from DC Comics lore. He was originally Matt Cable, a government agent who was a character in the Swamp Thing comics. Neil Gaiman resurrected him as Dream’s Raven companion, where he simply goes by the name Matthew. We imagine that the connections to the world of Swamp Thing get brushed aside. But since Patton Oswalt voices him, we’re more than ok with that.

John Dee (David Thewlis)

In the original comics, John Dee is the real name of the Justice League villain, Doctor Destiny. He used the stolen Dreamstone of Morpheus, gifted to him by his mother, to give himself vast powers. An inmate at Arkham Asylum, he later breaks free and causes all kinds of damage. In the comics, he has an almost skeletal look, which they’re not keeping for the show. But the great David Thewlis plays him on the series, so we get it. Why cover up that expressive face?

The Corinthian (Boyd Holbrook)

The being known as the Corinthian is a male-presenting figure, who is actually a nightmare creation of Morpheus. He escaped the Dreaming, and let loose in the waking world, where he murders young men for sport. Having no eyes, and instead, two small mouths where his eyes would be, the Corinthian always wears sunglasses to hide these terrifying features. He inspired a whole century’s worth of serial killers. Killers who thought of themselves as “collectors.”

Death (Kirby Howell-Baptiste)

Death is Dream’s positively cheerful sister, who is exactly what her name suggests—the embodiment of the end of life. In the comics, she is portrayed as a young woman, who always wears an ankh necklace around her neck. She is there at the end of everyone’s life, guiding them into what comes next for them beyond this world. She is her brother Dream’s closest friend among his Endless family. And she is the only one who can speak to him in certain honest terms.

Johanna Constantine (Jenna Coleman)

Many fans know DC Comics supernatural investigator and occult expert John Constantine. If not from the movie Constantine with Keanu Reeves, then by his role in DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. But in Sandman, Neil Gaiman introduced his ancestor, Johanna Constantine, an 18th-century adventurer. She only made a few appearances in the comics, but it looks like she will have an expanded role in the Netflix series. Probably taking over her descendant’s role in the present day.

Lucifer Morningstar (Gwendoline Christie)

Lucifer Morningstar is the Fallen Angel and ruler of Hell, just as in the Biblical tales. The absolute ruler in the realm of the Underworld, Lucifer appears androgynous and was designed to look like a young David Bowie. Lucifer has ruled in Hell for over 10 billion years, during which time a rivalry with Dream began. Gwendoline Christie portrays Lucifer in the series. Interestingly enough, the main character on the TV series Lucifer is also based on Neil Gaiman’s version of the character from The Sandman.

Rose Walker (Kyo Ra)

In the original comics, Rose Walker is a young American woman with incredible power. Unknown to anyone but those in the Dreaming, Rose is a once-in-a-millennium individual known as a Dream Vortex. In other words, a human who can break down the barriers between dreams and reality. But in the Waking World, she’s just a concerned sister trying to reconnect with her missing brother. She is a major character in the collection of Sandman stories, The Doll’s House and she plays an important role in season one of The Sandman.

Lyta and Hector Hall (Razane Jammal and Lloyd Everitt)

In the comics, Hippolyta “Lyta” Trevor Hall and her husband, Hector Hall, are the children of icons. Lyta is the daughter of the 1940s Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor, named Hippolyta after Diana’s Mother. Hector is the son of Hawkman and Hawkgirl. As young people, they were the heroes Fury and Silver Scarab. After Hector dies, his dream self manages to impregnate his wife Lyta, creating a break in the barrier between Dreams and Reality. Both characters appear in the Netflix series, only with their connections to iconic DC heroes removed.

The Sandman season one arrives on Netflix on August 5.

The post A Guide to the Characters of THE SANDMAN appeared first on Nerdist.

Netflix is about to finally make Neil Gaiman fans’ dreams come true. Or rather, their Dream come true. The streaming site is developing the author’s seminal DC comic book The Sandman as a TV series. After years of failed attempts at bringing the story of Morpheus to the big screen, what can we expect from a television adaptation? Here’s everything we know about The Sandman.

Title

This comic-based series shares its name with its source material. This Netflix show is titled The Sandman.

The Sandman‘s Plot

DC Comics

Before we dive into the show, let’s review what we know about The Sandman comic book. Issue #1 of The Sandman debuted in 1989, and its primary story ran for 75 issues until 1996. (Other supplementary issues came later, including an important prequel, Overture.) The show’s official logline does as good a job as any describing Neil Gaiman’s (and many artists’) legendary, surreal comic book series. From Netflix:

A rich blend of modern myth and dark fantasy in which contemporary fiction, historical drama and legend are seamlessly interwoven, The Sandman follows the people and places affected by Morpheus, the Dream King, as he mends the cosmic—and human—mistakes he’s made during his vast existence.”

The latest trailer backs that up:

A further synopsis shares:

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 titular Sandman is one of the seven siblings known as the Endless. They are “the anthropomorphic embodiments of powerful natural forces” who predate gods. They each rule over a different realm of existence. And though they are powerful, they are not totally invulnerable, all-knowing, or free from the rules of the universe. We learn this important lesson the first time we meet Morpheus.

DC Comics

According to Gaiman, the show’s first season, which Netflix strangely says will be “ten episodes (plus one),” will cover the comics’ first volume, Preludes and Nocturnes; this spans issues one through eight. The season will also get into “a little bit more” from the comics, which will at least include Volume 2, The Doll’s House. That’s the second major storyline from Gaiman’s series, and it carries long-term ramifications for the rest of the story.

In a recent interview with Empire, Gaiman broke down some of the individual episodes more specifically. He shared:

You watch Episode 1 and think, ‘Oh, I get this thing: it’s like Downton Abbey, but with magic,’” he says. “Then you’ll be wondering, ‘What the hell is this?’ by Episode 2, when you’re meeting Gregory The Gargoyle in The Dreaming. Episode 5 is about as dark and traumatic as anything is ever gonna get, then you’ve got Episode 6, which is probably the most feel-good of all the episodes… If you didn’t like an episode of Game Of Thrones, you probably won’t like any other episode of Game Of Thrones. With Sandman, it’s all about surprising you. It’s all about reinventing itself. It’s all about taking you on a journey you’ve not been on before.”

Gaiman has promised fans that the show is a faithful adaptation of the comics in both spirit and storyline. However, it will feature some changes. For one, the show will be set in present-day, which is 30 years later than when the comics take place.

Behind the Scenes

Allan Heinberg (Wonder Woman, Grey’s Anatomy) serves as showrunner, writer, and executive producer. Gaiman and David S. Goyer (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, Krypton) also serve as writers and executive producers. The three co-wrote the first episode together. The series comes from Warner Bros. Television.

The Sandman‘s Cast

The sprawling story will have an equally sprawling cast. Tom Sturridge (Pirate Radio, Sweetbitter) will star as the titular Sandman. The Lord of the Dreaming realm, also known as Morpheus and Oneiros, among many other names, will have two Game of Thrones alums as enemies. Gwendoline Christie will play Lucifer, Ruler of Hell. And Charles Dance joins the show as the dastardly Roderick Burgess, “charlatan, blackmailer, and magician.”

Vivienne Acheampong (The Witches) will star as Lucienne, Dream’s chief librarian and trusted guardian. Boyd Holbrook (Logan) plays Sandman‘s infamous The Corinthian. He’s “an escaped nightmare who wishes to taste all that the world has in store.” Which he does literally. The Corinthian has teeth for eyes and a fondness for eating the eyes of others. And Asim Chaudhry (Black Mirror: Bandersnatch) and Sanjeev Bhaskar (Yesterday) will star as Abel and Cain. They are “the first victim and the first predator, residents and loyal subjects of the Dream Realm.”

We also know some of Morpheus’ Endless siblings. Kirby Howell-Baptiste (The Good Place) will play Dream’s iconic older sister, Death. Gaiman describes her as “wiser, nicer, and much more sensible.” Mason Alexander Park joins the cast as Morpheus’s troublesome younger sibling Desire. They got the part after publicly saying on Twitter they were interested in the role. And Donna Preston will play Desire’s sad, pained twin sister Despair.

Netflix and Gaiman have also announced a slew of other important roles. Which includes a mix of relative newcomers and famous faces.

• Jenna Coleman stars as 18th-century occult adventurer and John Constantine’s great-great-great grandmother Johanna Constantine. Unlike in the comics, we will also meet a present-day version of the character on the show.
• Joely Richardson plays an older Ethel Cripps, Roderick Burgess’ love and John Dee’s mother. She is “a woman of a hundred identities and a thousand lies.”
• Niamh Walsh will fill the role of a younger Ethel, circa when she was a “determined young woman seeking to survive” during the 1920s and ‘30s.
• David Thewlis will plays Ethel’s dangerous son John Dee. “Driven mad, long ago, [he’s] out and on a quest for Truth that may destroy the world.” He’s a lot of fun. If you find unimaginable horror “fun.”
• Kyo Ra is Rose Walker. She’s “a young woman on a desperate search for her missing brother, who finds a family she didn’t know that she had, and a connection to Dream that neither of them can escape.”
• Razane Jammal plays Rose’s friend Lyta Hall, a “young widow mourning her husband Hector.” However, Rose doesn’t know “Hector has started showing up in Lyta’s dreams,” or “that strange things are happening.”
• Sandra James-Young will play the heiress Unity Kinkaid. She is “Rose’s mysterious benefactor [who] spent a century asleep.” But now she’s awake after missing out on her whole life.
• Stephen Fry, the legend himself, will star as “Rose Walker’s debonair protector,” Gilbert. He is “a dab hand with a paradox and a sword cane.”
• Patton Oswalt will voice Dream’s trusted emissary, the dead human-turned raven, Matthew. He will be a real raven and not a CGI character. Oswalt was onboard before the show was even a show. Gaiman says the comedian “was the first person we asked, and the first person we cast, the day before we pitched The Sandman to Netflix.”

DC Comics

Finally, it has been announced that Mark Hamill will voice Merv Pumpkinhead.

The Sandman‘s Release Date

The Sandman will release on Netflix on August 5.

Originally published May 28, 2021.

The post Everything We Know About THE SANDMAN TV Series appeared first on Nerdist.

The Sandman is coming to Netflix. That’s a dream come true for fans of Neil Gaiman’s beloved graphic novel series. But the highly-anticipated adaptation is also bringing something terrifying with it – nightmares made flesh. They’re the focus of the show’s latest trailer, which debuted at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. Because after a century away from his realm, the Lord of the Dreaming has much more than just his own realm to save.

If you are unfamiliar with Neil Gaiman’s graphic novel don’t worry. We have you covered with everything you need to know about the comic series. (Along with what you need to experience for yourself.) But this trailer introduces some of The Sandman‘s most dangerous characters. That includes The Corinthian (Boyd Holbrook), Doctor Destiny (David Thewlis), and Lucifer (Gwendoline Christie). But this promo only hints at the the true terror that awaits humanity after the long absence of the Lord of Dreams, Morpheus.

The show’s official synopsis from Netflix explains why he was away for so long and why his return is so important:

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.

This trailer isn’t all horrifying, though. (Just motsly horrifying.) It also features Morpheus’s talking raven, Matthew (voiced by Patton Oswalt), as well as his loyal librarian (Vivienne Acheampong). And we even get a brief glimpse at his servant Mervyn Pumpkinhead. (Mark Hamill will voice the constantly annoyed employee.)

This trailer for The Sandman also gives us a better glimpse at two members of Morpheus’s family, the Endless. Dream speaks to his sister Death (Kirby Howell-Baptiste) and his sister-brother Desire (Mason Alexander Park).

But Death and Desire don’t scare us like those others. Which is exactly why we can’t wait to see The Sandman. Unfortunately we still have a couple more of doing just that. The series brings its nightmares to Netflix on August 5.

Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. You can follow him on Twitter at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.

The post THE SANDMAN’s Newest Trailer Makes Nightmares Flesh appeared first on Nerdist.

Whether or not you’ve read Neil Gaiman’s seminal comic book series featuring multiple artists ahead of Netflix’s upcoming series, you already know about The Sandman‘s realm. You go there every time you dream. And sometimes during your unconscious journey, if you’re lucky—or very, very unlucky—you even meet that land’s ruler. Not that you will remember your encounter. The moment you awaken his memory fades into oblivion like sand falling through your fingers. But the story of Morpheus is not limited to just one place. Nor is it limited to just one time or even a single dimension. The Sandman‘s tale is a trip through imagination itself, where anything is possible. But despite its ephemeral nature and supernatural main character, The Sandman‘s story—one that combines history, lore, legend, and myth—is profoundly human.

You just won’t know exactly what story it is telling until the end. And that’s the best way to experience The Sandman.

Neil Gaiman Brings Dream to Life

DC Comics’ first Sandman character, the Golden Age superhero Wesley Dodds, made his debut in 1939. Joe Simon and Jack Kirby then brought another Sandman, Garrett Sanford, to comic shelves in the ’70s. And in 1988 Hector Hall briefly took up the Sandman moniker. But those mortal characters have little to do with the Sandman of Neil Gaiman’s comic that ran for 75 issues from 1989 to 1996. (Gaiman returned to the series in his 1999 novella The Sandman: The Dream Hunters. He then completed the story with The Sandman: Overture, a prequel series published between 2013 and 2015.)

Every version of the Sandman exists within DC Comics continuity. But Gaiman’s iteration stands as the only true Sandman. The others simply received a small portion of the legendary Sandman’s powers during his prolonged absence during the 20th century. (We’ll get to that.)

The true Sandman is also known by many names. Some call him Morpheus or Oneiros, while others know him simply as Dream. But no matter his moniker, to every conscious entity throughout the universe he is the Lord of Dreaming. For his realm—the realm of dreams, nightmares, imagination, and stories—is called The Dreaming. It’s an infinite place of possibilities where Morpheus rules absolutely. Its library, just one of many parts found there, holds every book never written. (A concept I assure you haunts the person who wrote this sentence.)

Morpheus is not a singular being, though. Nor is The Dreaming the only realm of its kind. He is one of the seven Endless, a group of frequently bickering siblings who each rule over their own kingdom. And they are both simple and hard to define.

Who or What Are the Endless?

The Endless are not invincible, but they are essentially immortal. They are older and more powerful than gods and will exist until “this universe” is near its end. That’s because each is the physical manifestation of an aspect of life itself. They include (from oldest to youngest):

• Destiny
• Death
• Dream
• Destruction
• Desire
• Despair (Desire’s twin)
• Delirium (formerly Delight)

While Morpheus is Lord of the Dreaming, each member of the ageless Endless rules over their own domain. (Their names mostly speak for themselves.) But they are more than just a tangible representation of a natural force of life. They aren’t just ideas or concepts personified, either. They literally are those ideas. Morpheus is dream. Death is death. (Hence the “simple and hard” part of describing them. Their nebulous existence makes it inherently impossible to fully understand what they are even when you know what they are. It’s like trying to understand infinity.) The Endless can also go anywhere they like, including into the real world alongside mortal beings. And in Morpheus’ case, they can fall in and out of love with those beings.

(FYI: You do not want to fall in love with the mercurial Morpheus. A broken heart is often the best outcome you can hope for when your romance goes south.)

Despite their nature, the Endless are like most families. Each member plays their role and each relationship has its own dynamic. Some members are what you might call difficult or troublesome. Meanwhile others are loving and understanding. Sometimes it depends on which two siblings are interacting. They all have long, complicated pasts and don’t always get along or love each other as much as they do others. That’s why they argue, undermine, and sometimes even flat out hurt one another. With the exception of the kind and gentle Death, they are not even comfortable entering their siblings’ realms unless necessary. They do have an easy way of contacting the others, though. Each domain contains a gallery with individual sigils of each Endless. If one holds another’s symbol they can call out to that sibling.

When someone or something destroys/kills a member of the Endless, they return to resume their spot alongside their family. And yet, they are not entirely the same being they were before.

The Endless also change in appearance depending on who is looking at them. (Minus Destiny, who is almost always depicted as a blind man wearing a robe with a heavy book chained to him.) But Morpheus most often appears as a tall, thin, pale man with black-blue hair. His dark eye sockets also have glittering light and stars.

But to label him or any of the Endless as a specific race or species is to completely misunderstand what they are. (Same with calling their sister-brother Desire a man or woman. Desire is truly androgynous and can be one or the other from moment to moment, just as they can be neither and both, even at the same time.) The Endless have no cultural or racial identity, nor even any true form. They’re the same being whether they appear as a person or a cat. They belong to every living thing, for they are the Endless wherever life is found. And that includes on planets where life existed long before it did on Earth.

Bu how did Delight become Delirium, you might ask? Also, what does it mean to be Destruction? And what does Despair’s past tell us about The Sandman? Some questions should be explored rather than answered. Is that because they’re more fun to learn about on their own? Or because they are spoilers? Yes.

Okay, But What Is The Sandman Actually About?

There are two ways to answer that question. The first is to ruin the entire story, since it’s not clear what overarching tale Gaiman and the artists are telling until the very end. There’s an ultimate plot that ultimately ties everything together—even elements that seemingly had no connection to anything else—and it does so in an unexpected and moving way that instantly invites a re-read. But that’s only one reason telling you what The Sandman is about will ruin it. The other reason is because it’s not about a singular story at all.

That’s because at its core The Sandman is a story about stories. And great stories can exist simply for the sake of existing, not because they need to be part of something bigger. So while The Sandman ultimately arrives at a destination put in motion at the onset, it’s truly the journey to the end that matters. That journey hops around time, planets, dimensions, historical moments, mythology, and legend. It features characters from Lucifer and Angels to Shakespeare and Caesar Augustus, the Furies and Odin to fairies and witches, and anything else people have ever imagined. It features places both real and wondrous, as well as dreamy concepts come to life alongside nightmares made flesh. (Especially the Corinthian, who wears sunglasses to hide his true form… until your last moment.)

The Sandman is about stories of all kinds, and therefore it’s about everything everywhere. Often that journey involves visiting Morpheus’ The Dreaming and the real world. But you’re just as often to also travel to all the places in between, too. And while we can imagine what a trip to Hell might be like, some of those places are more of a feeling than an actual location. That’s why trying to easily distill what The Sandman is all about is to like trying to put a cloud in a jar. Only the jar might not actually exist. Or the cloud. Or you.

But that’s just the first way to answer the question. I’ll let Neil Gaiman himself tell you the second: “The Lord of Dreams learns that one must change or die, and makes his decision.” You might prefer that far more pithy assessment, but Gaiman did note that “leaves quite a lot out.” And he ain’t kidding. He didn’t even mention Matthew the talking raven or Merv Pumpkinhead.

Is There Anything Concrete You Can Tell Me About The Sandman?

The canon (let’s be honest, retconned) reason the world of DC Comics had superheroes called Sandman before introducing Gaiman’s actual Sandman of legend is because Morpheus spent most of the 20th century imprisoned. The superheroes of the same name merely acquired some of his powers while he couldn’t use them.

During his imprisonment The Dreaming remained without its ruler and Morpheus’ castle and domain fell into disarray. Some sections of his realm vanished entirely. And a few of his subjects even went out on their own in direct defiance of their master. (Some with good intentions, others with nefarious motives.)

Without the King of Dreams around the mortal world suffered suffered greatly, too. Some individuals became trapped in their dreams, while the fates of others were so terrible they defy description. (But hoo boy do they make for an entertaining comic horror volume!) Because while the Endless can’t truly die, they can neglect their realms, which hurts every living thing. The Endless can get lazy, disillusioned, or even spiteful. One of Morpheus’ siblings completely abandoned their realm, too.

Morepheus’ time locked away is the start of this story and frames the entire world of The Sandman, even when that world starts exploring stranger places and ideas.

(If you’re still looking for even more specifics, though, check out everything we know about Netflix’s upcoming adaptation.)

So Is The Sandman a “Vibes” Story?

No. As you can tell, The Sandman is hard to explain in a traditional sense. It has to be experienced if you wish to fully understand it. But it’s so much more than just the feeling it evokes. It’s about what we want from life—both good and bad—and why. It’s about growth and living with the consequences of our decisions. And it’s about understanding how we make sense of existence with the stories we tell ourselves.

And for a moody, often dour, frequent pain-in-the-ass tangible manifestation of dreams come to life, Morpheus is far more human than he seems at first. Even though he wishes he wasn’t.

That’s why the best way to approach The Sandman is the same way you approach your dreams: let it come to you.

Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. You can follow him on Twitter at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.

The post What You Need to Know About Neil Gaiman’s THE SANDMAN appeared first on Nerdist.

After what seems like an eternity in limbo, Netflix’s adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s graphic novel The Sandman has finally debuted a new teaser. The crowning moment of the first day of Netflix’s Geeked Week 2022, the teaser gives us a great look at Tom Sturridge as Dream, a.k.a. Morpheus, a.k.a. The King of Dreams. And not only do we see him, he looks exactly like he does in the comics. It’s definitely only a teaser, but we won’t have too long to wait. The series will debut on Netflix on August 5.

Sturridge looks perfect, but he’s certainly not the only big character we see in the teaser. We get to see a brief shot of Kirby Howell-Baptiste as Death, Morpheus’ kinder sister. I mean, yes, she’s the actual Grim Reaper, but she’s nice. Howell-Baptiste herself describes Death as “someone you’d like to have a beer with,” which is always the sign of a good Death.

We also see Lucienne the Librarian played by Vivienne Acheampong, looking perfectly studious. We get a few glimpses of the sprawling vistas of the the Dreaming, the mystical realm which Morpheus rules, plus a shot of Gwendoline Christie as Lucifer looking absolutely divine. Boyd Holbrook’s Corinthian with his bleeding eyes finishes us up.

Interestingly, the character who gets the most screen time in the teaser is Johanna Constantine, played by Jenna Coleman. Johanna is an ancestor of John Constantine, and similarly an occult detective. She’ll play both the character in 2021 and her own ancestor in the 18th Century. After seeing Coleman’s Clara Oswald try to become the Doctor during her time on Doctor Who, it’s outstanding to see her get to step into a similar, if gruffer role.

The cast for this show is truly massive and this teaser only shows us a few. But with a 12-episode run, they have plenty of Dream’s world, and his weird family, the Endless, to explore. August 5 can’t get here soon enough!

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd.

The post THE SANDMAN Drops Dreamy New Trailer appeared first on Nerdist.

Netflix’s Geeked Week is coming back again this year for lots of great reveals. The streaming service will drop new trailers, photos, posters, and other cool tidbits from June 6-10 for your nerdy pleasure. Of course there’s some looks back at popular shows like Stranger Things 3 and The Umbrella Academy’s second season. And we know those shows are coming back really soon with fresh seasons and infinite drama. But the new fun is starting already for those who are dying for more The Sandman content. The Netflix Geeked Week trailer gives us more glimpses of the Neil Gaiman fantasy series, including a great look at The Sandman character Lucifer. (You can spot it around the :50 mark.)

It’s about ten seconds of new footage but that’s all we really need to see, right? Intriguing darkness, swirling ominous sand, and glimpses of Tom Sturridge and Gwendoline Christie as the titular character (also known as Morpheus) and Lucifer, respectively, are absolute gold.

Right now, the release date for this series isn’t known but perhaps that will be a part of the news during Geeked Week. They cannot give us everything at one time. We all know suspense makes people want to tune in even more. But it is certainly something wonderful to accompany the previous footage of The Sandman that we had before. And we are ready for much more of it as Geeked Week hits us with all the action. 

Previously, The Sandman’s official Twitter account asked fans to submit their questions for Geeked Week. That was a while ago but hopefully enough people got their inquiries in for some great reveals. Who will answer those questions? What will we learn? We can only wait and see. 

We have been summoned to this realm to dive into things unknown so let’s prepare for strange dreams, action, adventure, and an overall epic story.

The post THE SANDMAN Reveals Additional Footage Full of Lucifer Goodness appeared first on Nerdist.

No, this is not a dream fans of The Sandman. It’s Dream himself. Netflix has shared the first teaser for its highly-anticipated adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s iconic comic series. And just like on the page, Morpheus’s journey will start with a long imprisonment.

Netflix shared the first trailer for its upcoming The Sandman series as part of its TUDUM online event. Fans of Morpheus will instantly recognize this footage from the show’s premiere. It comes entirely from the first comic. This teaser focuses on Roderick Burgess’s failed attempt to summon Death. Instead he ends up with her much less friendly brother Dream. That won’t be good for anyone involved.

But even if you haven’t read the comic series, you can probably guess who this encounter will ultimately be worst for. All you need to know who is in real trouble is this shot. Imagine summoning this glare to your house? Especially so you can lock them up? You wouldn’t want someone to look at you like this on a bus.

Netflix

How many times do we have to say this? Do NOT mess around with an anthropomorphic embodiment of a powerful force in the universe. Especially one who exists for so long they’re known as one of the Endless. It’s “don’t get involved in a land war in Asia” on a cosmic level.

Tom Sturridge’s Morpheus won’t be locked in his cage forever though. Here’s the show’s official logline:

“The Lord of Dreams has been summoned, and captured, by mortal men. Once free from his captivity, this eternal ruler of Dreams will realize that his troubles are only just beginning.”

Netflix also put together a side-by-side video to highlight just how much this sequence follows Gaiman’s comic.

While this teaser focuses primarily on Charles Dance’s Burgess and his captive Dream, Netflix also released gorgeous triptych character posters on the show’s Instagram account. They introduce Morpheus and two of his Endless siblings. That includes his sister Death, played by Kirby Howell-Baptiste, next to her symbol. And his sister-brother Desire, played by Mason Alexander Park, next to a crystal heart. And surrounding Dream is his helm (one of three tokens that will play important roles ins season one) and his raven.

When put together these The Sandman posters make for a striking tableau that captures both the beauty and terrifying power of the Endless.

Netflix

Of course, there are seven Endless. And we need posters for all of them. (Even if we’re unlikely to get one sibling’s for a long time. Don’t worry, you’ll eventually understand why.)

We can only imagine how good they’ll all look together. But like this show, we’d rather see it than have to dream about what it would look like.

The post THE SANDMAN Arrives in First Trailer and Character Posters appeared first on Nerdist.

“For 32 years, anyone who read Sandman, read the comics—that world is ending.” Don’t worry about that quote from Neil Gaiman though. Because in this new behind-the-scenes video from Netflix’s The Sandman, the author promises the series “is Sandman being made for people who love Sandman by people who love Sandman.” He didn’t have to tell us that though. Seeing the show’s sets and props is proof enough. Especially if you have always wanted to see Morpheus’ tokens. Or dreamed of visiting a Cereal Convention.

As part of its first-ever virtual “Geeked Week,” Netflix has given fans of The Sandman a little taste of what’s to come with a behind-the-scenes video. It includes hearing from author and executive producer Neil Gaiman. As well as the show’s Lord of Dreams, Tom Sturridge, and its Lucifer, Gwendoline Christie. There’s no footage from the show here. But it doesn’t matter. There’s more than enough to satiate fans who are very anxious to see Dream on screen.

We get a glimpse at Morpheus’ three tokens: his bag of sand, elaborate helm, and the Dreamstone ruby. We also get to see Matthew the Raven. This Sandman character will come to life via animatronics rather than CGI. Also, that old book Gaiman flips through could be the Magdalene Grimoire, which Roderick Burgess used to ensnare Morpheus. And there’s even an unfinished version of Abel’s baby Gargoyle Goldie (real name Irving, of course).

Netflix

Obviously, we love the props. But it’s the show’s ornate sets that might be the most exciting part of this sneak peek. There’s the throne room where Lucifer meets with Dream in Hell. As well as what looks to be the infamous dungeon where Roderick and Alex Burgess kept the Lord of Dreaming for 70 years. And we even get to see the hotel ballroom where the sinister Cereal Convention takes place. (This gives us a better idea of just how much of The Sandman Volume 2, “The Doll’s House,” we will see in the show’s first season. Seems like it could be a lot.)

Neil Gaiman says he “can’t wait” until fans see The Sandman. Comic fans have waited for 32 years. Seeing this won’t make waiting easier. But it does make waiting seem worth it.

The post Neil Gaiman Goes Behind-The-Scenes Of Netflix’s THE SANDMAN appeared first on Nerdist.

In January, Netflix whet the appetites of Sandman fans with some exciting casting announcements for its developing Neil Gaiman adaptation. We got our Dream/Morpheus/Oneiros in Tom Sturridge; our Lucifer in Gwendoline Christie; our Roderick Burgess in Charles Dance. Yes, things got more exciting by the name. And now, we have a whole new batch of Sandman characters accounted for. Netflix has revealed the stars who’ll bring Death, Desire, Despair, and many more, to life!

First, Dream’s siblings. In the role of sensible sister Death: Killing Eve and The Good Place’s Kirby Howell-Baptiste. As the spiritually seductive Desire: Mason Alexander Park, known primarily for theater work to date. And as the emotionally fraught Despair: Donna Preston of The Hitman’s Bodyguard.

But that’s only the tip of the iceberg in terms of this new casting. Netflix has also announced Doctor Who vet Jenna Coleman as Johanna Constantine, the 18th century’s enterprising adventurer. Next, we have mother and son Ethel Cripps and John Dee, a.k.a. Doctor Destiny. In these roles, we find Nip/Tuck’s Joely Richardson and Harry Potter and Wonder Woman’s David Thewlis.

Netflix

These characters help us bridge the gap to the second Sandman story, “The Doll’s House.” Netflix’s production on this arc is underway with more stars yet. At the center of this story, we’ll see Kyo Ra as Rose Walker, a young woman braving new terra to find her lost brother; Razane Jammal as Rose’s friend, and young widow, Lyta Hall; and Sandra James Young, as Unity Kincaid, the mysterious (and longtime comatose) figure who funds Rose’s journey.

It’s exciting to see Netflix’s Sandman production packing its cast with fresh young stars. However, it’s also a good deal of fun to welcome seasoned vets like Stephen Fry and Patton Oswalt. Fry will play Gilbert, who looks out for Rose on her journeys; Oswalt will voice Matthew, Dream’s emissary raven.

As we also know from the previous announcement: Boyd Holbrook will play the Corinthian; Vivienne Acheampong will play Lucienne; and Sanjeev Bhaskar and Amid Chaudry will play Cain and Abel. Now that the (nearly) full cast has taken shape, we’re more excited than ever for this new take on The Sandman.

Featured Image: DC Comics

The post THE SANDMAN Casts Death, Desire, Despair, and Many More appeared first on Nerdist.

The day that fans of The Sandman have long dreamed of is finally here. After endless false starts, Neil Gaiman’s beloved comic book series is coming to the screen. Last July, Netflix announced it had begun developing a live-action adaptation of the fantasy series. Now, after another long delay, we know who will be joining the diverse cast. Tom Sturridge has landed a dream role of a lifetime as Morpheus. And he’ll appear opposite a couple of stars from another wildly popular fantasy show, Game of Thrones.

StudioCanal

Today, Netflix announced the first official cast members for its The Sandman series. Tom Sturridge (Pirate Radio, Sweetbitter) will take on the titular role as the Lord of the Dreaming. Gwendoline Christie will join him as Lucifer, Ruler of Hell. As will another famous denizen of the Seven Kingdoms, Charles Dance. The former Tywin Lannister is playing Roderick Burgess, “charlatan, blackmailer and magician.”

Vivienne Acheampong (The Witches) will join them as Lucienne, chief librarian and trusted guardian of Dream’s realm. Boyd Holbrook (Logan, The Predator) is playing The Corinthian. He’s “an escaped nightmare who wishes to taste all that the world has in store.” And Asim Chaudhry (Black Mirror: Bandersnatch) and Sanjeev Bhaskar (Yesterday) will star as Abel and Cain respectively. They are “the first victim and the first predator, residents and loyal subjects of the Dream Realm.”

The show’s official synopsis provides newcomers an idea of what they can expect from the series: “A rich blend of modern myth and dark fantasy in which contemporary fiction, historical drama and legend are seamlessly interwoven, The Sandman follows the people and places affected by Morpheus, the Dream King, as he mends the cosmic—and human—mistakes he’s made during his vast existence.”

DC Comics

Gaiman, Allan Heinberg (Wonder Woman, Grey’s Anatomy), and David S. Goyer (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight) will all serve as executive producers and co-writers on the series, which is being produced by Warner Bros. Television. Heinberg is also showrunner on the series.

In a statement, Gaiman talked about finally seeing his iconic DC comic come to the screen.

“For the last thirty-three years, the Sandman characters have breathed and walked around and talked in my head. I’m unbelievably happy that now, finally, they get to step out of my head and into reality. I can’t wait until the people out there get to see what we’ve been seeing as Dream and the rest of them take flesh, and the flesh belongs to some of the finest actors out there. This is astonishing, and I’m so grateful to the actors and to all of The Sandman collaborators—Netflix, Warner Bros., DC, to Allan Heinberg and David Goyer, and the legions of crafters and geniuses on the show—for making the wildest of all my dreams into reality.”

Today is also a dream come true for the many fans who have been waiting a long time to see this happen.

The post Netflix’s THE SANDMAN Series Announces Its Cast appeared first on Nerdist.

Fans of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman can’t even count down the days until Netflix‘s adaptation premieres. Sadly, production on the series is currently delayed because of COVID-19. It’s just the latest holdup for the project, as Hollywood has tried and failed to bring the beloved comic book series to the screen for years. But readers will still be able to enjoy the story in a new way: Audible has announced the first ever audio adaptation of the series will be released this summer. And it features an all-star cast.

The Sandman audiobook has amounted a truly worthy cast. X-Men star James McAvoy will voice the title role of Dream, a.k.a. Morpheus. Venom‘s Riz Ahmed will play the Corinthian. Thor‘s Kat Dennings will star as Death. Kingsman‘s Taron Egerton will play John Constantine. The Walking Dead‘s Samantha Morton voices Urania Blackwell. Cheers‘ Bebe Neuwirth will play the Siamese cat. Gollum himself Andy Serkis is taking on the role of Matthew the Raven. And Good Omens angel Michael Sheen will voice Lucifer. (Now that’s range!)

Other notable names in the massive cast also include Justin Vivian Bond, Arthur Darvill, William Hope, Josie Lawrence, and Miriam Margolyes. Gaiman himself will voice the narrator.

DC Comics

“When an occultist attempts to capture the physical embodiment of Death (Dennings) in a bargain for eternal life, he instead mistakenly traps Death’s younger brother Dream (McAvoy), another of the seven god-like siblings known as The Endless who oversee aspects of human existence, including Desire (Bond) and Despair (Margolyes), Destiny, Destruction and Delirium. After seventy years of imprisonment Dream finally escapes, embarking on a quest to reclaim his lost objects of power and rebuild his kingdom, the world of sleep and imagination called The Dreaming. So begins one of the most acclaimed and successful series of graphic novels ever written.”

The first installment of the “multi-part original audio drama series” will adapt the first three volumes of The Sandman. That includes “Preludes & Nocturnes,” “The Doll’s House,” and “Dream Country.”

The audiobook will debut exclusively at Audible on July 15, 2020. The English recording is available for pre-order. Eventually it will also be released in French, German, Italian, Castilian Spanish, and Latin American Spanish editions. We still don’t know how long we have to wait to see The Sandman on screen, but we couldn’t dream up a better way to pass the time until we do.

Featured Image: DC Comics

Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. You can follow him on Twitter at @burgermike, and also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.

The post THE SANDMAN’s First Audiobook Is Coming, with All-Star Cast appeared first on Nerdist.

The Netflix adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s epic comic book classic The Sandman is going to have to wait a while longer to see the light of day. This according to Gaiman himself, who recently explained on his Tumblr account that the production has been postponed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In keeping with a show about the dreamworld we inhabit once we sleep, Gaiman described the show as currently “hibernating.”

“The scripts for the first season are written, casting had started, directors hired, sets were being built. Everything was ready to go into production, and then we moved into a pause. As soon as the world is ready to make TV drama, Sandman will move smoothly back into being made. In the meantime, we are taking the opportunity to get the scripts as good as we can.”

DC Comics

Honestly, The Sandman is simply in the same boat as every other television and film production right now. Hopefully, it won’t be more than a few months before they can get the ball rolling again. It’s interesting to note that casting is apparently underway; we have heard nothing about a potential actor to fill the role of Morpheus. Hopefully we’ll discover who is going to rock that Robert Smith from the Cure hairdo sooner rather than later, even if filming is delayed.

An adaptation of Sandman has long gestated in Hollywood. One version a few years back was going to be a feature film starring Joseph Gordon Levitt. Fans always wanted a long-form television adaptation instead however, as the mythology of The Dreaming that Gaiman created is too intricate and complex for a two hour film. The series is being showrun by Allan Heinberg, who created Marvel’s Young Avengers comic book series, as well as co-wrote the Wonder Woman film. Joining him will be The Dark Knight and Man of Steel’s David S. Goyer.

Featured Image: DC Comics

The post THE SANDMAN Netflix Series On Hold Due to COVID-19 appeared first on Nerdist.

The Sandman will arrive this summer as a multi-part Audible Original.  Dirk Maggs, the man behind the audio dramas for Good Omens and Anansi Boys, will direct. They haven’t announced the voice cast for this project yet. We expect to hear some high profile names lending their vocal talents.

DC Comics

Gaiman himself will serve as the new audio drama’s creative director, executive producer, and its narrator. Maggs will fill the roles of executive producer, writer and director. The Sandman will showcase an original score by award-winning composer and musician James Hannigan. It will be based on the first volume of the series, “Preludes and Nocturnes.” The Sandman ran for ten volumes total. Additionally, the story will reference other notes and script pages from Gaiman. Read the series’ official description below:

“When an occultist attempts to capture the physical embodiment of Death in a bargain for eternal life, he instead mistakenly traps Death’s younger brother Morpheus, the King of Dreams. After his seventy-year imprisonment and eventual escape, Morpheus goes on a quest to reclaim his lost objects of power and rebuild his realm. From there, one of greatest and most successful series of graphic novels ever written begins. Celebrated globally for its vibrant blend of modern myth and dark fantasy—which seamlessly interweaves contemporary fiction, historical drama and legend—The Sandman follows Morpheus, and the people and places he’s affected, as he tries to mend the cosmic and human mistakes he’s made during his Endless existence.”

DC Comics

In an official statement, Gaiman said the following of this new interpretation of one of his most celebrated works:

“Almost 30 years ago, Dirk Maggs approached DC about adapting The Sandman into audio form. It didn’t happen (although it was how Dirk and I first crossed paths) and I’m glad it didn’t happen, because we are in a Golden Age of audio drama right now, and Dirk and I are much better at what we are doing. This is a rich audio adaptation of The Sandman graphic novels, brilliantly crafted by Dirk Maggs, with an all-star cast. I’ve loved being there to talk casting, there to read the scripts and offer occasional advice, and there in the studios, watching magic get made and recording the narration. I can’t wait until the world hears what we’ve done.”

The official description indicates the audio drama looks as if it is sticking close to the classic source material. Given that comics are such a visual medium, it will be interesting to see how they present this story in an audio only format. We’re also curious to see who fills the coveted roles of Dream, Death, Delirium, and the rest of the Endless. This is one project we are looking forward to when it arrives later this year.

Featured Image: DC Comics

The post THE SANDMAN Audio Drama Coming This Summer appeared first on Nerdist.

From Avengers: Endgame to Wonder Woman, comic book movies reign supreme at the box office. But not every movie based on a comic book managed to go up, up, and away. Some of them never made it past the development stage. Others languished for years before unceremoniously dying. Join Dan Casey on a brand new episode of Explainiac as he dives deep into 10 comic book movies that almost got made…but ultimately didn’t.

Sources:

X-Men (http://bit.ly/2TYjQxm)
Green Lantern (http://bit.ly/2TQ3YNl; http://bit.ly/2TQ3c2T)
The Sandman (http://bit.ly/2TTp1yu)
Doctor Strange (http://bit.ly/2TWlX4O)
Justice League Dark (http://bit.ly/33OaMj5)
Daredevil (http://bit.ly/2TSZjKl)
Catwoman (http://bit.ly/2TS6zGj)
Spider-Man 4 (http://bit.ly/2TStZeE, https://yhoo.it/2TTpcKa)
Spider-Man (http://bit.ly/2TS6Jxp)
Y: The Last Man (http://bit.ly/33QELqH)

The post 10 Comic Book Movies That Almost Happened (Explainiac w/ Dan Casey) appeared first on Nerdist.

Hollywood has tried—and failed—to turn Neil Gaiman’s best-selling DC comic series The Sandman into a movie for a long time now. So long that the story of the many (many) unsuccessful attempts to bring it to the big screen earned a chapter in author David Hughes’ book Tales From Developmental Hell. Like lots of other popular books with unique stories, that of the life of Morpheus—the living embodiment of dreams themselves—seemed impossible for any studio to successfully adapt into a two-hour film without sacrificing what made it so good in the first place. But its nuance and complexity might be perfect for a television show, and that’s the route Netflix is taking as it finally brings Neil Gaiman’s beloved story to life.

The streaming site announced (in news we first heard at Variety) that it has ordered an 11-episode first season (though they are calling it “10+one”), which will see Wonder Woman writer Allan Heinberg serve as showrunner, executive producer, and writer on the series. Both Gaiman and David S. Goyer (writer of Batman Begins and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice) will also write for the show and serve as producers; the three will co-write the first episode of the series.

On Twitter, Gaiman has already given some more background and answered fans’ questions about the series and the writing process, including how it will be set 30 years later than the comic series.

I’m hoping we can make something on television that feels as personal and true as the best of the Sandman comics did. Just set thirty years later than Sandman the comic. https://t.co/Wy8y4aDbdE

— Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) July 1, 2019

No, I will indeed be cowriting the pilot.

In Variety it stated that David Goyer and I had written a Sandman movie script together in the past. This is an imaginary thing. https://t.co/ymFeazQV43

— Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) July 2, 2019

The first season will be eleven episodes. That’s the start of it all. Preludes and Nocturnes and a little bit more. https://t.co/tOlfJ1kS1y

— Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) July 2, 2019

No, we’re making Sandman. Not reinventing it. https://t.co/M4lJoCG42P

— Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) July 2, 2019

Just clarifying. No Sandman TV scripts have been written yet, by anyone for any reason. The @jackthorne script was a movie script from 4 years ago. https://t.co/mDKjdOlSvp

— Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) July 2, 2019

You’re not dreaming, Sandman diehards; this is really happening. The hope for an adaptation is finally out of developmental hell, and it looks like the plan is to tell the entire story from the very beginning. (Something that was never going to happen with a movie.)

Featured Image: DC Comics

The post Neil Gaiman’s THE SANDMAN Is Becoming a Netflix TV Series appeared first on Nerdist.

In June, The Wednesday Club chatted about the unforgettable series The Sandman by Neil Gaiman. Because we are huge fans of the series, we had to ask ourselves what alignments and classes the Endless would be if they were D&D characters. After much thought, here’s how we’d imagine them if we were to play them as D&D characters.

Dream

Lawful Neutral Druid (Circle of Dreams)

At first blush, Dream doesn’t seem to fit with Druid, but consider his connection to the waking world.  What does he grab from a dreaming guard to free himself? A handful of sand. His pouch of sand is the first of his tools that he retrieves on his way back to the Dreaming. It is earth.

He also has ravens, specifically Matthew, that he uses to be his eyes when he is unable to leave the Dreaming. That would easily be the spell Beast Bond. And let’s not forget his connection to the elements of the Dreaming. Merv Pumpkinhead points out that it only rains when Morpheus wants to be mopey and sit in the rain.

His Circle is obviously Dreams, if for nothing else than Walker in Dreams. It also fits because of his relationship to the fey courts. A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream anyone?

Death

Lawful Good Cleric (Grave Domain)

Why not the Death Domain? The interesting thing with Neil Gaiman’s version of Death is that she doesn’t kill. She is just the friend you meet after your death. Take the story Façade. Rainie begs her for death, but it’s not something she can give. Instead, she leads Rainie to the one that can gift her with the end of her life.

Death is as good as they come. From dressing down Dream for the way he treated Nada to the fact that she takes human form once a century to keep herself grounded as to why she does what she does.

Desire

Chaotic Evil Bard (Glamour)

Oh yes, Desire, the sister-brother of the Endless. The selfish, meddling sibling. Chaotic Evil should come as no surprise as their machinations has caused Dream and mortals alike no end of suffering. They play with the humans in their club, making people fall madly in and out of love.

The Mantle of Majesty fits perfectly with Desire’s ability to become the person you desire most, be it male or female. As pointed out in The Doll’s House, Desire lives in the heart.

Despair

True Neutral Ranger (Gloom Stalker)

Despair was a hard one to pin down. We went True Neutral because she doesn’t really pick sides, even when her twin, Desire, is doing the asking. Hide in Plain Sight could be because she’s watching you through the mirror and you never notice. Why else would we feel worse after checking ourselves out? She also has Animal Friendship going on all of her rats.

We went Gloom Stalker because of the extra spells of Fear, Disguise Self, Greater Invisibility, and Seeming -all fit with the aspect of Despair. While we don’t see much of her in the comics, she is one character that sticks with you.

Destiny

Lawful Neutral Cleric (Knowledge Domain)

Let’s all be honest, this should come as no surprise to anyone that’s read the series. Destiny carries a book that tells him everything that will happen… Mostly, if you believe Delirium. Although he is blind, he can see all the pathways and which one will be chosen. Even when he sees himself in his garden, he’s not surprised, but it does give him a chill.

Delirium

Chaotic Neutral Mystic (Order of the Awakened)

At first glance, this one seems like a stretch, but if you dig deeper into Delirium, it fits. Strength of Mind allows her to replace her Wisdom (which she rarely uses) with another attribute. She may be highly intelligent, but she doesn’t know how to use what she knows.

During her travels with Dream, she tells Destiny there are paths outside his garden and things not in his book. That could be a use of Psionic Investigation. And of course, she does pick up Animal Handling when given Barnabas the dog.

Destruction

Neutral Good Artificer (Alchemist)

Last but not least, the member of the Endless that has turned his back on his duties. Destruction is a fun conundrum because he has taken to creating. We went with Artificer to showcase his… talent? He’s not very good at creating things. Sculptures left half-chiseled, poems scribbled out. But for him, it’s clearly the effort that counts.

We wanted to showcase both sides to the coin that is Destruction, so we went the Alchemist route for him. His satchel has the ability to bring out items that can do either. He could have easily used Alchemical Fire to create the explosion he used to send his nephew to see Death in the Song of Orpheus.

Who’s your favorite character from The Sandman? Would you choose another class or alignment for the characters? Let us know in the comments!

More pop culture-inspired D&D goodness!

• Save the World with Avatar: The Last Airbender D&D Character Sheets
• Gotta Catch ‘Em All in Pokémon D&D!
• Play D&D in Equestria with These My Little Pony Character Sheets

All image credits: Vertigo and DC Comics

The post We Gave Neil Gaiman’s Sandman Characters D&D Classes and Alignments appeared first on Nerdist.

The upcoming Starz television adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s novel American Gods is already getting great reviews and tons of positive buzz from fans. This has led many to speculate on the possibility of American Gods showrunners Bryan Fuller and Michael Green taking on perhaps Gaiman’s most beloved opus of all– DC Comics’ epic fantasy series The Sandman as their next television project. Warner Brothers, who owns the Sandman property, has tried for years to adapt the property into a film, with no results.

Gaiman’s The Sandman ran for 75 issues, from 1989-1996, with specials and mini-series having come out since then. Considered one of the greatest comic books of all time, The Sandman centered on Dream, also known as Morpheus, who is one of the seven members of The Endless, who are all anthropomorphic personifications of concepts like Delirium and Destruction. Among the other members of the Endless include his sister Death, a character who is just as popular as Dream is. Gaiman’s story takes us through various worlds and eras, and most consider it too epic for a film.

The most recent attempt was from Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who was set to star and direct in a big-screen adaptation as of two years ago. But after months of trying to find a way to squeeze the epic story into a two hour time frame, the actor gave up, and admitted that the property was best suited to television and not film. Since that announcement, there has been no more movement on a Sandman movie. Could it be possible that a TV show is in the works?

Well, not yet. But it seems the same creative minds currently behind American Gods, would really, really like a crack at it. In an interview with Yahoo promoting American Gods, Gaiman said “I’m hoping that the success of American Gods will show Time Warner [owner of DC Comics] that maybe something as huge and shapeless and strange as Sandman would be best suited to television.”

Bryan Fuller completely agreed with him, saying that bringing the 75 issue saga of Dream and the Endless to live-action in a long form television series would be a dream project. “Those comics are so filled with so much story, and so much humanity and such visual candy — try to stop us if we have half the opportunity.” And it doesn’t seem that Fuller was just saying that because an interviewer asked him. Fuller took to Twitter afterwards and said the following, making it clear that he’s serious about wanting to do this show:

YES, WE DO. WE REALLY DO. https://t.co/lhH6u0tIhc

— Bryan Fuller (@BryanFuller) April 28, 2017

The tide seems to be turning in Hollywood towards the realization that most long form book or comic book series are best suited for television adaptations and not films. The Lemony Snicket’s  A Series of Unfortunate Events book series has found more success on Netflix than it ever did in the movies, and Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles books are also coming to television soon, after the attempt at condensing two novels into one movie with Queen of the Damned resulted in total failure.

DC Comics’ Y: The Last Man is supposedly also headed to television after years of failed attempts at adapting it for film. The studios are finally realizing that for some properties, TV is truly where it’s at. Although for some reason, Frank Herbert’s Dune is still going to be a movie again, and not a long form cable series. That property should be the next Game of Thrones, not the next Star Wars.

Maybe the only obstacle towards The Sandman being successful on TV is that unlike properties like Y: The Last Man, Gaiman’s saga of Morpheus and his family is very visually elaborate, and would require more sets and special effects to create the world of the Endless properly. But while it may be hard, it’s not impossible, especially if Warner Brothers is willing to spend the proper amount of money on it. When you have a creative duo like Bryan Fuller and Michael Green itching to do this series justice, I say you let those guys have a crack at it.

What do you think of the possibility of a Sandman television series? Better than a film, or do you think this is one story that should remain a comic? Let us know your thoughts down below in the comments.

Images: DC Comics

[brightcove video_id=”5415272491001″ brightcove_account_id=”3653334524001″ brightcove_player_id=”rJs2ZD8x”]

The post Neil Gaiman and Bryan Fuller Want to Bring THE SANDMAN to Life on TV appeared first on Nerdist.

The upcoming Starz television adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s novel American Gods is already getting great reviews and tons of positive buzz from fans. This has led many to speculate on the possibility of American Gods showrunners Bryan Fuller and Michael Green taking on perhaps Gaiman’s most beloved opus of all– DC Comics’ epic fantasy series The Sandman as their next television project. Warner Brothers, who owns the Sandman property, has tried for years to adapt the property into a film, with no results.

Gaiman’s The Sandman ran for 75 issues, from 1989-1996, with specials and mini-series having come out since then. Considered one of the greatest comic books of all time, The Sandman centered on Dream, also known as Morpheus, who is one of the seven members of The Endless, who are all anthropomorphic personifications of concepts like Delirium and Destruction. Among the other members of the Endless include his sister Death, a character who is just as popular as Dream is. Gaiman’s story takes us through various worlds and eras, and most consider it too epic for a film.

The most recent attempt was from Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who was set to star and direct in a big-screen adaptation as of two years ago. But after months of trying to find a way to squeeze the epic story into a two hour time frame, the actor gave up, and admitted that the property was best suited to television and not film. Since that announcement, there has been no more movement on a Sandman movie. Could it be possible that a TV show is in the works?

Well, not yet. But it seems the same creative minds currently behind American Gods, would really, really like a crack at it. In an interview with Yahoo promoting American Gods, Gaiman said “I’m hoping that the success of American Gods will show Time Warner [owner of DC Comics] that maybe something as huge and shapeless and strange as Sandman would be best suited to television.”

Bryan Fuller completely agreed with him, saying that bringing the 75 issue saga of Dream and the Endless to live-action in a long form television series would be a dream project. “Those comics are so filled with so much story, and so much humanity and such visual candy — try to stop us if we have half the opportunity.” And it doesn’t seem that Fuller was just saying that because an interviewer asked him. Fuller took to Twitter afterwards and said the following, making it clear that he’s serious about wanting to do this show:

YES, WE DO. WE REALLY DO. https://t.co/lhH6u0tIhc

— Bryan Fuller (@BryanFuller) April 28, 2017

The tide seems to be turning in Hollywood towards the realization that most long form book or comic book series are best suited for television adaptations and not films. The Lemony Snicket’s  A Series of Unfortunate Events book series has found more success on Netflix than it ever did in the movies, and Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles books are also coming to television soon, after the attempt at condensing two novels into one movie with Queen of the Damned resulted in total failure.

DC Comics’ Y: The Last Man is supposedly also headed to television after years of failed attempts at adapting it for film. The studios are finally realizing that for some properties, TV is truly where it’s at. Although for some reason, Frank Herbert’s Dune is still going to be a movie again, and not a long form cable series. That property should be the next Game of Thrones, not the next Star Wars.

Maybe the only obstacle towards The Sandman being successful on TV is that unlike properties like Y: The Last Man, Gaiman’s saga of Morpheus and his family is very visually elaborate, and would require more sets and special effects to create the world of the Endless properly. But while it may be hard, it’s not impossible, especially if Warner Brothers is willing to spend the proper amount of money on it. When you have a creative duo like Bryan Fuller and Michael Green itching to do this series justice, I say you let those guys have a crack at it.

What do you think of the possibility of a Sandman television series? Better than a film, or do you think this is one story that should remain a comic? Let us know your thoughts down below in the comments.

Images: DC Comics

[brightcove video_id=”5415272491001″ brightcove_account_id=”3653334524001″ brightcove_player_id=”rJs2ZD8x”]

The post Neil Gaiman and Bryan Fuller Want to Bring THE SANDMAN to Life on TV appeared first on Nerdist.

Between Neil Gaiman‘s recently released book, Norse Mythology, the upcoming adaptations of American Gods and Good Omens, and a full writing slate ahead, the writer of DC’s Sandman series doesn’t seem to have much time to script comics anymore. But which comic book does Gaiman still dream about writing? Why, Batman of course! Gaiman is far from the first writer to covet the chance to tell an adventure about Gotham City’s Dark Knight, but he’s apparently been holding on to this story for almost three decades.

Recently, Gaiman was asked whether he had another Batman story in him. In response, Gaiman not only confirmed his desire to write it, he indicated that it may be coming sooner rather than later.

There is a Batman story I have wanted to tell for 28 years. And it is getting closer. I just need time… https://t.co/Bnaom4seWq

— Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) February 22, 2017

What story could that be? We highly doubt that Gaiman would be satisfied by writing a standard Batman story with conventional villains and ordinary bank robberies. Even Batman’s most colorful adversaries probably wouldn’t be enough for Gaiman, since their stories have been told so many times before. To get a better sense of what Gaiman might have in store for Batman fans, it’s time to look back at “Whatever Happened To the Caped Crusader?,” the two-issue story that Gaiman wrote nearly a decade ago in collaboration with artist Andy Kubert. Essentially, Gaiman and Kubert depicted a gathering of Gotham City’s greatest villains in the wake of Batman’s apparent demise.

However, the story quickly took on a bizarre tone as each villain shared their recounting of Batman’s death; which happened a different way each time. With Catwoman, Batman died because she essentially refused to treat his grievous injuries when she had the chance. But perhaps the most haunting and memorable visual of the story was the revelation that Bruce Wayne’s loyal butler, Alfred Pennyworth, became the Joker as a way to keep Batman sane and engaged in the world.

Naturally, Alfred’s plans eventually backfired and led to another death of Batman. However, this is the kind of fresh twist on the mythology that we can probably expect from Gaiman when he finally does get a chance to tell his Batman story. While we would certainly love to see Gaiman and Kubert reteam for the new story, it may also be interesting to see Gaiman’s frequent collaborator, Dave McKean as the artist for this tale. McKean provided the art for Grant Morrison’s definitive Batman graphic novel, Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth all the way back in 1989. As far as we’re concerned, McKean is overdue for another chance to tackle Batman!

DC would have an added motivation to let Gaiman run wild with a Batman tale. Because of Gaiman’s reputation and his fan following, it would likely be a perennial best-selling story. We can’t guarantee that it would be an instant classic before the first word is even written, but we are very eager to see what Gaiman has in store for us when he does make time for his Dark Knight adventure.

What do you want to see in Gaiman’s ultimate Batman story? Shine the Batsignal of your thoughts down upon the comment section below!

Image Credit: DC Comics

The post What If Neil Gaiman Revisted Batman? appeared first on Nerdist.