‘The Sandman’ First Look at Netflix’s Neil Gaiman Adaptation

Dream, Death, and Lucifer are all finally coming to Netflix.

Thirty-two years after DC Comics published the first issue of “The Sandman,” Neil Gaiman’s phantasmagoric dive into the world of dreams, Netflix unveiled the first look at its highly anticipated live-action adaptation on Saturday.

Stars Tom Sturridge — who plays Morpheus, a.k.a. Dream, the titular ruler of Dreaming — and Kirby Howell-Baptiste — who plays Death, Dream’s chic and easygoing sister — revealed the first look during Tudum, Netflix’s global virtual fan event.

Executive produced by Gaiman, David S. Goyer, and showrunner Allan Heinberg (“The Catch,” “Scandal”), “The Sandman” is updating Gaiman’s graphic novel by setting it in the present day, rather than in the late 1980s (as Audible’s ongoing audiobook adaptation of “The Sandman” is doing). The story follows Morpheus after he’s escaped 105 years of imprisonment on Earth by occultist Roderick Burgess (Charles Dance) who, when attempting to capture Death in 1912, captured Dream instead. Upon his escape, Dream must reclaim the three totems of his power — his pouch of sand, his helm (which looks like an elaborate gas mask), and a ruby — before he can reconstitute and rebuild the dilapidated Dreaming world.

Given the vast, intricate narrative and visual complexities of “The Sandman,” the title has vexed would be filmmakers from adapting it as feature film. Most recently, Joseph Gordon-Levitt was attached to star and direct, but left over creative differences. Ultimately, Netflix picked up “The Sandman” as a TV series, which Warner Bros. Television and DC Entertainment are producing.

When introducing the first look at the series, Gaiman said the “decades-long gestation” for the series was “a bit of a blessing,” allowing him to ensure the series was “true to the comics.”

“What astounded me through this process was how often it felt like I was walking around inside the comics,” Gaiman said. “Everything from the sense to the costumes to the effects felt it had been plucked from my imagination.”

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