During Netflix’s Tudum event, the streaming service revealed an exciting first look at its upcoming adaptation of The Sandman. As co-creator Neil Gaiman himself said earlier this year, he’s held off for 30 years “successfully battling bad movies of Sandman” and the recently released clip finally lets viewers start to form a first impression of the direction it’s headed.
Gaiman also recently said that he isn’t particularly interested in premature criticisms from people “who don’t understand/haven’t read Sandman” and prefers newcomers and old-school fans “watch the show, make up your minds” for themselves.”
As for the footage shown during Tudum, it was a quick–though impactful and very dramatic–clip of Dream/Sandman being summoned. Introducing the clip during Tudum, Gaiman reassured fans that this “decades-long gestation was a bit of a blessing… this is how it was always supposed to happen.” The clip, in that regard, does not disappoint.
While this first look only helps whet our appetites, during the event Netflix also announced new Sandman social pages for Twitter and Instagram, where fans will be able to discover a variety of other character posters offering a bit more of an idea on what to expect.
The Sandman comic first debuted in 1988, written by Gaiman and art by Sam Keith (issues 1-5) and Mike Dringenberg. The series follows Dream–who is also called The Sandman, Morpheus, Lord of Dreaming, The Shaper, etc.–who has been a prisoner for 70 years and must rebuild his kingdom, which has collapsed in his absence.
There was a previous attempt made to adapt Sandman in 2016, when Dark Knight Rises star Joseph Gordon-Levitt was on board to star and produce a movie version, but that collapsed when Gordon-Levitt walked away, stating that he and studio executives couldn’t “see eye-to-eye on what makes Sandman special.”
While there is not yet a release date for The Sandman, it will stream exclusively on Netflix.
