DC Comics drama and creator Neil Gaiman also recruited Vivienne Acheampong, Boyd Holbrook, Charles Dance, Asim Chaudhry and Sanjeeve Bhaskar.
A year and a half after being chosen for the series, Netflix revealed the cast of its big-budget adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s beloved Sandman.
Tom Sturridge will be the protagonist of the drama based on Gaiman’s DC Comics series, playing Dream, the Lord of the Dreaming. Gwendoline Christie co-stars as Lucifer, Ruler of Hell. Vivienne Acheampong, Boyd Holbrook, Charles Dance, Asim Chaudhry and Sanjeeve Bhaskar complete the dark fantasy drama.
See how Netflix describes your action live Sandman: “A rich blend of modern myth and dark fantasy in which contemporary fiction, historical drama and legend are perfectly intertwined, The Sandman follows the people and places affected by Morpheus, the King of Dreams, as he mends the cosmic – and human – errors he made during his vast existence. “
Sturridge (Starz’s Sweetbitter) takes on a role that was briefly assigned to Joseph Gordon-Levitt when Sandman was being developed as a film for New Line in early 2016. With Christie and Dance, Sandman is also preparing a miniThe Game of Thrones meeting for the duo. Dance will portray Roderick Burgess, a charlatan, blackmailer and magician.
Acheampong (The witches) plays Lucienne, the chief librarian and trusted guardian of the Dream realm. Holbrook (Narcos) is defined as The Corinthian, a runaway nightmare that wants to prove everything the world has in store. Chaudhry (Black Mirror: Bandersnatch) and Bhaskar (Yesterday) assume the roles of Abel and Cain, the first victim and the first predator, who are loyal residents and subjects of the Kingdom of Dreams.
Gaiman (American gods) and Allan Heinberg (Wonder Woman, Grey’s Anatomy) are co-writing the series, with the latter on board as a showrunner. David S. Goyer (Batman Begins, Foundation) exec produces Warner Bros. drama. Television.
“For the past 33 years, Sandman’s characters have breathed, walked and talked in my head,” said Gaiman. “I’m incredibly happy that now, at last, they can get out of my head and into reality. I can’t wait until the people outside can see what we’ve seen as Dream and the rest of them take meat, and the meat belongs to some of the best actors out there. This is surprising, and I am very grateful to the actors and to everyone The Sandman contributors – Netflix, Warner Bros., DC, to Allan Heinberg and David Goyer, and the legions of artisans and geniuses on the show – for turning the craziest of all my dreams into reality. “
Sandman arrived on Netflix in June 2019 with an 11-episode order for what the sources at the time said The Hollywood Reporter it was a massive financial commitment. The pact at the time, according to sources, was the most expensive TV series DC Entertainment has ever made. Three months later, super producer Greg Berlanti announced that his Green Lantern The HBO Max TV series “promises to be our biggest DC show ever.”
Sources say Warners, which controls the IP, took the Sandman TV advertising for various channels, including corporate sister HBO. The premium cable network was not part of the series, given the huge price attached (and probably the number of other major global shows in development), and Netflix snapped it up while the streamer continues to make an active move over massive IP that could be turned into subscriber-friendly franchises à la Amazon’s Lord of the Rings and HBO’s The Game of Thrones.
Gaiman’s beloved comic took a long and challenging path to the screen. Try to turn Sandman in a film franchise started in the 1990s with Warner Bros. – the parent company of Vertigo, the former DC Comics label. The project went through several incarnations and writers in the 1990s and early 2000s and finally toiled in development purgatory. Gaiman announced in late 2013 that he was joining Gordon-Levitt for a feature film that ended up being created on Warner Bros. New Line. Gordon-Levitt was cast to star and direct before leaving the film after creative differences with the studio in March 2016. Eric Heisserer, New Line’s last screenwriter Sandman, said in November 2016 that he was no longer involved.
Sturridge is represented by the WME. Christie (Star Wars) is with WME, Independent Talent Group, Untitled and Jackoway Austen. The dance is with Tavistock Wood Management. Holbrook is with CAA, Range Media and Morris Yorn. Acheampong and Chaudhry are with Curtis Brown Group and Goodman Genow. Bhaskar is with United Agents.
A debut date for Sandman has not yet been determined.