After a handful of attempts to make an on-screen adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman, the comic book series has finally been greenlit to go under production as a television series.
It has been 30 years since Gaiman published the first issue of the comic series. The original book ran for 75 issues overall and has been described as “unfilmable”. Apparently, technology and the film industry has caught up enough, and now it can finally be produced for television.
In 2016, actor (and Sandman fan) Joseph Gordon-Levitt actually acquired the filming rights for the comic book series and was set to direct the film adaptation. He later dropped out of the project due to creative differences. Now, after years, it has been reported by The Guardian that it’s back on, and that the first season of the series will have 11 episodes.
Gaiman will write the first episode alongside showrunner Allan Heinberg and David S. Goyer. Gaiman shared that the first season of the new TV series would only cover Preludes and Nocturnes – basically, the first eight comics in the Sandman series.
I’m hoping we can make something on television that feels as personal and true as the best of the Sandman comics did. Just set thirty years later than Sandman the comic. https://t.co/Wy8y4aDbdE
— Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) July 1, 2019
The author most recently adapted the novel he wrote with Terry Pratchett, Good Omens, into a TV series, as well. However, he shared that he’d be less involved with Sandman than he was with Good Omens, where he was the showrunner. Gaiman’s American Gods was also recently adapted for TV where he sat as executive producer.
The Sandman was first published by DC Comics in 1989 and continued under its soon-to-be-defunct imprint Vertigo from 1993. It was one of the first graphic novel to ever be on the New York Times Best Seller list. There’s no news about when production is going to start for Sandman or when it’s going to be released, but we’ll definitely keep our eyes peeled for updates!
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Are you excited for The Sandman? Who do you want to see in it?
