Netflix has announced an additional 12 cast members for their upcoming adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s ‘The Sandman‘, which will include the legendary (and cuddly) Stephen Fry, Doctor Who’s Jenna Coleman, MODOK’s Patton Oswalt, Harry Potter’s David Thewlis, and many more!
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, played by Tom Sturridge (‘Sweetbitter’), as he mends the cosmic – and human – mistakes he’s made during his vast existence.
With twelve new cast members being announced today, co-writer and EP Neil Gaiman thought it would be a good idea, not only to introduce who they are playing, but also give a little insight into why he picked them for the roles… They are:
Kirby Howell-Baptiste (‘The Good Place’, ‘Why Women Kill’) as DEATH – Dream’s wiser, nicer, and much more sensible sister.
The role was “significantly harder to cast than you might imagine (well, than I imagined, anyway),” commented Gaiman. “Hundreds of talented women from all around the planet auditioned, and they were brilliant, and none of them were right. Someone who could speak the truth to Dream, on the one hand, but also be the person you’d want to meet when your life was done on the other. And then we saw Kirby Howell-Baptiste audition and we knew we had our Death.”
Mason Alexander Park (‘Cowboy Bebop’) as DESIRE – Dream’s sibling and everything you want, whatever you want and whoever you are. Desire is also trouble for Dream. Families are complicated.
“We had barely started looking when Mason Alexander Park reached out on Twitter, and threw their hat into the ring. We were thrilled when they got the part,” said Gaiman.
Donna Preston (‘Famalam’) as DESPAIR – Desire’s twin, Dream’s sister. She is the moment when all hope is gone, the bleakest of the Endless.
“Donna Preston will be playing her, and her performance is chilling and sad. You feel her pain.”
Jenna Coleman (‘Doctor Who’, ‘Victoria’) as JOHANNA CONSTANTINE – Eighteenth-Century occult adventuress, John Constantine’s great-great-great-grandmother.
“This Sandman character became so popular that she even had her own spin-off series,” adds Gaiman. “I created her to fill the role that John Constantine does in the past. When we broke down the first season, given that we knew that we would be encountering Johanna in the past, we wondered what would happen if we met a version of her in the present as well. We tried it and the script was sparkier, feistier, and in some ways even more fun. So having written her, we just had to cast her. Jenna Coleman gave us the Johanna of our dreams – tough, brilliant, tricky, haunted and probably doomed.”
Niamh Walsh (‘Jamestown’, ‘The English Game’) and Joely Richardson (‘The Rook’, ‘Nip/Tuck’) as ETHEL CRIPPS – Roderick Burgess’s love, John Dee’s mother.
Gaiman explains that the character “is a small but vital role in the comics, but she became more important as we told our story. In the 1920s and 30s, she is played by Niamh Walsh: a betrayed and determined young woman seeking to survive. In the present day, now a woman of a hundred identities and a thousand lies, she’s played by the brilliant Joely Richardson.”
David Thewlis (‘Harry Potter’ films, ‘Fargo’) as JOHN DEE – Ethel’s son is dangerous. He was driven mad, long ago. Now he’s out and on a quest for Truth that may destroy the world.
“We needed an actor who could break your heart and keep your sympathy while taking you into the darkest places. We were lucky that David Thewlis took the part.”
The following characters pop up in “The Doll’s House”, the second big Sandman storyline, which they are currently filming, so presumably will appear later on in the series. It’s the story of:
Kyo Ra as ROSE WALKER – 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.
“We needed someone young who could make you care as she ventures into some very dangerous places,” says Gaiman. “Boyd Holbrook’s Corinthian is waiting for her, after all. Kyo Ra achieves that as Rose.”
Razane Jammal (‘Paranormal’, ‘Doubt’) as LYTA HALL – Rose’s friend, a young widow mourning her husband Hector. Rose doesn’t know that Hector has started showing up in Lyta’s dreams, though. Or that strange things are happening.
“Razane Jammal is Lyta, and she’s terrific.”
Sandra James Young (‘EastEnders’) as UNITY KINKAID – Heiress, Rose’s mysterious benefactor. She has spent a century asleep. Now she’s awake, having missed out on her life.
Stephen Fry as GILBERT – Rose Walker’s debonair protector. A dab hand with a paradox and a sword cane.
“Stephen Fry is a National Treasure, and we forget sometimes that he’s also a remarkable actor. Seeing him in costume and makeup on the dailies made me blink: it was as if the comic had come to life.”
Patton Oswalt voices MATTHEW – Dream’s trusted emissary. A raven.
“I expected our animals to be CGI, and was both taken aback and thrilled when the dailies started coming in, and there was Dream talking to… well, a raven,” expresses Gaiman. “But ravens don’t really talk. The question was, could we find an actor who could make you care about a dead person who was now a bird in the Dreaming – one who isn’t certain what’s going on, or whether any of this is a good idea? And could we find a voice performer who was also the kind of Sandman fan who used to stand in line to get his Sandman comics signed? The answer was, we could if we asked Patton Oswalt. And Patton was the first person we asked, and the first person we cast, the day before we pitched The Sandman to Netflix.
The newly announced cast will join Sturridge as Dream of the Endless, Gwendolyn Christie (‘Game Of Thrones’) as Lucifer, Sanjeev Bhaskar (‘Unforgotten’) and Amid Chaudry (‘People Just Do Nothing’) as Cain and Abel, Charles Dance (‘Game of Thrones’) as Roderick Burgess, Vivienne Acheampong (‘Famalam’) as Lucienne, and Boyd Holbrook (‘Narcos’) as The Corinthian.
The Sandman’ is a new dark fantasy Netflix series based on The Sandman comic book series created for DC by Neil Gaiman (‘Good Omens’, ‘Coraline’). Gaiman is also an Executive Producer and Co-Writer. Allan Heinberg (‘Wonder Woman’, ‘Grey’s Anatomy’) serves as Executive Producer and Showrunner. David S. Goyer (‘Batman Begins’, ‘The Dark Knight’, ‘Foundation’) serves as Executive Producer and Goyer and Heinberg are also Co-Writers on the project. The series is produced by Warner Bros. Television.
“Of course, there are more delights and nightmares cast than I’ve listed here, and we have a few more secrets up our sleeves,” concludes Gaiman. “I can’t wait until you can start watching.”
No news on when ‘The Sandman‘ will air on Netflix, but if you head over to “Never Miss” and register, you can get a notification when we have a UK premiere date.
