Video: English actor Oliver Farnworth auditions to play Dream in Netflix’s The Sandman

Netflix is hard at work on adapting Neil Gaiman’s beloved comic book The Sandman for TV, and we’re finally getting some details. Not long ago, we saw a tape featuring Game of Thrones veteran Rosabell Laurenti Sellers (Tyene Sand) auditioning for the key role of Death. Now, there’s a tape of an actor trying out for the titular role: Dream of the Endless, Death’s brother.

Going for the lead role is English actor Oliver Farnworth. Currently, he is best known for playing Andy Carver on Coronation Street. If you haven’t seen Coronation Street or you can’t remember his character, Andy was a key figure in the famous Pat Phelan storyline, where he was trapped in a basement and later (supposedly) killed by Phelan. He pulled it off perfectly.

His Sandman audition has him reading a scene from the first volume of the comic, “Preludes and Nocturnes,” in which Dream returns to his domain after escaping years of imprisonment. Dream and his siblings, the Endless, are eternal beings who each represent different facets of the human experience, and all of them have important responsibilities to see to. When he finds his kingdom in ruins, Dream asks Lucien, one of his many subjects, what happened while he was gone. This is a scene pulled directly from Gaiman’s comic, although the dialogue seems a little more fleshed out here than it was on the page.

“What happened here? Who did this?” Dream asks Lucien.

“You did, sire,” Lucien replies. “What with you gone for so long, the realm began to fade and then, well, crumble.”

“Some power has returned to me since I’ve come back,” Dream later says. “I made this realm and its inhabitants and I will make it again.”

And thus begins Dream’s quest to recover the three artifacts that were stolen from him: his helm, a pouch of sand, and a ruby. It’s the first arc in a much longer story. Sellers’ audition for Death had her reading a scene from the same volume.

Obviously, no casting decisions have been made yet, at least so far as we know, but based on the auditions we’ve seen so far, the cast seems to be coming together well. The Sandman is yet to be given an official release date, and it could be delayed due to the widespread effects of COVID-19. At least things look to be shaping up nicely. This was definitely a strong audition from Farnworth. He brings all of the emotion and sense of urgency that’s required for this scene.

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