Netflix to mount epic Sandman series with Neil Gaiman and Dark Knight writer

A Sandman series is reportedly in the works for Netflix, with creator Neil Gaiman and The Dark Knight screenwriter David S. Goyer attached to bring the comic to life. The Hollywood Reporter reported that Netflix signed a “massive” deal with Warner Bros. Television to turn the book into a live-action series.

Previous attempts to bring the Sandman series to the big screen involved a 1990s film project, which fell apart in development hell. In 2013, Gaiman announced he would team up with Joseph Gordon-Levitt to bring the project to life as a feature film for New Line, but in 2018, Gordon-Levitt left the project, citing creative differences with the company. The new series is pegged as “the most expensive TV series that DC Entertainment has ever done.”

The Sandman series, published under DC’s now-defunct Vertigo line, is a fantasy, horror, and mythology-inspired story following Morpheus, the god of dreams, and six other manifestations of various concepts — Destiny, Death, Destruction, Despair, Desire, and Delirium. The series ran from 1989 to 1993. Gaiman recently handpicked four writers to expand the Sandman universe.

The Netflix series would be the third television adaptation of Gaiman’s works in the past few years, following American Gods on Starz and Good Omens, the 1990 collaboration with Terry Pratchett currently available on Amazon Prime. Unlike the other two projects, this one belongs fully to Warner Bros. and DC. It also marks another aggressive move by Netflix to invest in big fantasy franchise names, such as The Witcher, the Chronicles of Narnia, and Magic: The Gathering, as networks and streaming services everywhere scramble to find the next Game of Thrones.

There is currently no date, episode count, or casting information for the Sandman project.