Netflix kicks off day two of Geeked Week with first look at The Sandman set
Neil Gaiman, the series' creator, was in awe of attention to detail.
Seeing as Netflix decided that it’s Geeked Week, we can all wear our pocket protectors, glasses with tape over the bridge, and flood pants that keep our cuffs bone dry without fear. Admittedly, Geek Chic™ isn’t the most comfortable sleep gear. Well, unless, of course, you’ve been visited by the Sandman. Netflix is way ahead of you, with a flurry of Sandman news to help you drift peacefully into a sound slumber.
Sandman is one of Netflix’s most ambitious and anticipated projects of the year. Based on Neil Gaiman’s seminal comics series, Sandman follows the Endless, a gang of godlike entities that oversee the mortal realm of Earth. More concepts than characters, the Endless are the personification of various states of being, such as Death, Desire, Delirium, and Dream, who is ostensibly the main character. Still, as you’ll learn, the human world drives the main narrative just as much. Gaiman said that this first season would follow “The Doll’s House,” Sandman’s second major story arc. Nevertheless, some characters and elements come from Sandman’s first eight-issue run, “Preludes And Nocturnes.”
Netflix’s Sandman stars Tom Sturridge as Dream (also known as Morpheus), Game Of Thrones’ Gwendoline Christie as Lucifer, Cruella’s Kirby Howell-Baptiste as Death, Mason Alexander Park as Desire, Donna Preston as Despair, and Jenna Colman as Johanna Constantine, the ancestor of John Constantine of Hellblazer and Keanu Reeves fame. Rounding out the cast is a who’s who of character actors, like Charles Dance, Stephen Fry, Patton Oswalt, and the always welcome David Thewlis (Thewlis stans rise up).
As part of its Geeked Week, Netflix gave a first glimpse at the behind-the-scenes, including the set. Even Gaiman himself was amazed by how detailed it looks, saying, “Holy shit, it’s amazing! We’re in the undercroft. Our art department, our set decorators, our production designers…they are wizards.”
Adaptations of Sandman have been in some level of development since the late- 90s—it’s been such an arduous journey that “Sandman Development Hell” could be a member of the Endless. Some huge names have thrown their hat in the ring, too, including Academy Award-nominee and Logan-director James Mangold and, curiously enough, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who at one point signed on to star and direct. Netflix cracked the code or, at the very least, persisted long enough, and Sandman is happening. But we don’t know exactly when it’s happening yet. Production is currently underway, so the show will likely premiere at some point at the end of the year or in 2022.