Update – Netflix Officially Orders Neil Gaiman’s ‘The Sandman’ To Series
Yesterday, we heard rumours that Netflix was closing in on a deal to bring Neil Gaiman’s ‘The Sandman‘ to series. Now it’s official, as the streaming service announces a full series order for the comic book adaptation.
Based on the comic book series created for DC by Neil Gaiman, ‘The Sandman’ will be a rich blend of modern myth and dark fantasy in which contemporary fiction, historical drama and legend are seamlessly interwoven. The series 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 series sees Gaiman exec producing alongside David S. Goyer, with Allan Heinberg set as showrunner. Heinberg is no stranger to comic book properties having written the script for Patty Jenkins’ acclaimed ‘Wonder Woman’ movie and created and wrote ‘Young Avengers’ for Marvel. He also developed, wrote and was showrunner on ‘The Catch’, and has written & produced on a host of tv series including ‘Scandal’, ‘Grey’s Anatomy’, ‘The O.C.’ and ‘Party of Five’. Goyer has a long history with DC, having worked on Nolan’s ‘Dark Knight’ trilogy, ‘Man of Steel’, ‘Constantine’ and ‘Krypton’.
“We’re thrilled to partner with the brilliant team that is Neil Gaiman, David S. Goyer and Allan Heinberg to finally bring Neil’s iconic comic book series, The Sandman, to life onscreen,” commented Channing Dungey, VP, Original Series, Netflix. “From its rich characters and storylines to its intricately built-out worlds, we’re excited to create an epic original series that dives deep into this multi-layered universe beloved by fans around the world.”
The press release has the order number listed as being for 10 episodes (plus 1)… So… 11 episodes presumably?… Seems like an odd way to list the order number, so I’m wondering if it is maybe a 10 episodes straight series and some sort of special at a later date. Season 1 will be an adaptation of the first book ‘Preludes and Nocturnes’.
Gaiman, who is co-writing the pilot with Goyer commented on Twitter “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.”
As we mentioned in the previous post, along his journey in the comic books, Morpheus encounters both Lucifer and John Constantine. Whether that will happen in this tv adaptation remains to be seen, but Netflix does hold the tv rights to ‘Lucifer’, also based on Neil Gaiman’s version (albeit very loosely), and we do also have a tv Constantine in the form of Matt Ryan on ‘Legends Of Tomorrow’, so there are possibilities for some crossover there… It’s not all that likely, but we can dream!
This is a huge win for Netflix, as ‘The Sandman’ is one of Gaiman’s most beloved works, and Gaiman has an overall deal with streaming rivals Amazon Studios to work exclusively on new series. However, ‘The Sandman’ belongs to DC/Warner Bros, meaning it isn’t covered by that deal.
Netflix hasn’t announced a premiere date for ‘The Sandman‘ yet, but our guess would be late 2020 at the earliest, although it could well be later, as Gaiman has confirmed that the no scripts have been written yet. We’ll let you know when we hear more.
