The Sandman creator Neil Gaiman has given fans an update on the state of Netflix’s live-action adaptation of his groundbreaking comic book series, which follows a group of immortal beings as they see to their duties managing the human experience.
Netflix announced the ambitious project in July of last year. Gaiman is working on the show alongside Davis S. Goyer (The Dark Knight, Man of Steel) and showrunner Allan Heinberg (Wonder Woman). The first season will consist of 11 episodes. The Sandman is already on track to be a record-breaker, as it’s shaping up to be the most expensive TV show that DC Entertainment has ever produced.
In short, there’s both good and bad news. It looks as if development on the fantasy drama was going smoothly, at least until the coronavirus hit and shut down the entertainment industry. In response to a Tumblr user who was curious about how production was going, Gaiman revealed that the scripts are all written and directors have been hired. He even revealed that sets were being built!
"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."
A lot of what he says here regarding casting and scripts are things that we’re already aware of. But it’s good to have confirmation that The Sandman is basically in a holding pattern like the rest of the television industry. “It’s going really well, except it’s kind of hibernating right now until people start making TV again,” Gaiman wrote. “As soon as the world is ready to make TV drama, Sandman will move smoothly back into being made.”
Obviously, it’s a shame that we have to wait a little longer to see the show, to say nothing of the crew members who may have been put out of work by this. But Gaiman does see a silver lining: “In the meantime, we are taking the opportunity to get the scripts as good as we can.”
The Tumblr user, grigori77, also said that they would love to see actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the lead role of Morpheus, but Gaiman doesn’t comment on that. We don’t know what actors are appearing in the show, but we have seen a couple of leaked audition tapes, including British actor Oliver Farnworth auditioning for Morpheus and Game of Thrones veteran Rosabell Laurenti Sellers (Tyene Sand) auditioning to play the key role of Death.
Gaiman will have time to continue buffing up the scripts while in lockdown in New Zealand, alongside his wife Amanda Palmer and his four-year-old son Ash. On Twitter, he says that he is “amazed” at the way New Zealand is handling the virus.
As a visitor to New Zealand during this time, I am amazed at how well they have handled this. It's worked and is working. https://t.co/sCf41zmnNA
— Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) April 19, 2020
Let’s all make sure that we can do our bit to ensure that we can prevent the spread of COVID-19 by listening to the advice issued by our governments. And hopefully, once this is all over, we can all enjoy The Sandman when it drops on Netflix!
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