We probably won’t see a film or television adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman anytime soon, but at least Audible and DC’s new audiobook version has a good cast. So there’s that. Audible has announced the full lineup for its exclusive production of The Sandman, based on Gaiman’s best-selling graphic novel of the same name. The audiobook adaptation debuts on July 15, with Gaiman narrating a story led by James McAvoy as Dream and Kat Dennings as Death. The Sandman co-stars Taron Egerton, Riz Ahmed, Arthur Darvill, William Hope, Josie Lawrence, Miriam Margolyes, Samantha Morton, Bebe Neuwirth, and Andy Serkis, with Michael Sheen as Lucifer.
For those unfamiliar, here’s Audible’s synopsis for The Sandman:
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 Sandman is being released as a multi-part audio drama, with the first part (which adapts the first three graphic novels) debuting on July 15.