The Dream is finally real as Netflix debuts trailer for Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman
Against all odds, the first trailer for a TV version of Neil Gaiman's Sandman is finally here…and actually looks pretty good?
TV News The Sandman
After literal decades of development, the fervent prayers of millions of fans, and the exhausted efforts of poor, used-up Joseph Gordon Levitt, it’s finally here: Actual goddamn footage of an actual goddamn TV version of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman, in the form of the trailer for Netflix’s upcoming adaptation of the beloved comics series, released today at Comic-Con.
And, hey: Are we being rubes here, or does this look…Actually pretty good? We can’t say we’re completely sold on Tom Sturridge as the show’s central figure, Dream; there’s a very specific blend of self-involved arrogance and self-involved moping baked into that character, and almost any actor would struggle to nail it out of the box. Kirby Howell-Baptiste seems to be on more even footing as Gaiman’s deeply empathetic version of Death, though, and Boyd Holbrook is pretty convincing as the show’s version of literal walking nightmare The Corinthian—who appears to be getting an enhanced role from the relatively small (but deeply memorable) one he plays in Gaiman’s comics.
More importantly, though, Gaiman, David S. Goyer, and Allan Heinberg seem to have nailed the sweeping, surreal scope and tone of Sandman, with shots of Hell, the realm of Dream’s sibling Desire, and one very unlucky diner all exuding the proper sense of mystery and dread. (We also get a quick bit of David Thewlis as the resident of said diner, and, yeah: This is probably going to be a creepy one.)
A few other tidbits from the panel today: Mark Hamill will appear in the series, voicing Dream’s pumpkin-headed janitor, Mervyn Pumpkinhead. And, somewhat amazingly, legendary Sandman covers artist Dave McKean is also involved in the project; at Gaiman’s personal request, he provided unique end credits art for each episode of the show.
Sandman has lingered in the popular consciousness for more than 30 years now because it’s more than just a supernatural adventure: Obsessed, like its author, with stories, it’s often meandering, digressive, and, yeah, a little bit pretentious. (While also being very human and funny; there’s a reason they’ve got Patton Oswalt in this thing as a talking raven.) That’s a tall order for any TV show to live up to, but from this brief look, we don’t see any real red flags indicating why it can’t finally dream itself into life when Netflix unleashes the show in full in a couple of weeks.
67 Comments
As someone who never read Sandman, and didn’t care for most of Gaiman’s stuff I did read, this looks cool
For what it’s worth, I dislike most of Gaiman’s writing as well, EXCEPT Sandman, which is easily the best comic I have ever read.
Same.
I don’t even know you guys anymore.
I like Gaiman but even I will admit that he comes off a lot better when he is working with good comic artists or Terry Pratchett.
Oh man. One thing’s for sure, they got the look so right. The Threshold of Desire! Abel! Matthew! The helmet, the ruby, the pouch! I’m a little less wild about the dialogue and the prominence of the Corinthian as some kind of arch-foe for Dream. It sounds like they’re trying to punch up the excitement factor, which I worry would mar the languid, melancholic pace of Gaiman’s story. As unlikely as it is, the only Sandman I really want to see is one that mirrors the comic as closely as possible. But it wouldn’t be the first time a trailer isn’t indicative of the final product. Now if they just get Matt Ryan as Constantine to show up in episode 3.
I thought it was confirmed that John wouldn’t be participating.
La la la can’t hear you
It’s pretty clear Jenna Coleman is the only Constantine appearing.
All of the Legends should be available now.
I think the audio series is supposed to be extremely faithful. No idea if they kept all the DC superheroes in, though.
They may be able to use J’onn J’onzz but I doubt they’ll have any others. I wonder if Nabisco will allow the product placement it they do.
I unfortunately get the same sense I did from the first Dune teaser: this is made entirely for the people who are already fans, and will do absolutely nothing for anyone who’s never read Sandman and will just have no idea what’s going on through the whole thing.
Dune was a big hit though so it worked out
After the first two Dune adaptations, that was absolutely necessary.
Dune wasn’t that in the absolute slightest.
I had never read Dune, but I still loved the movie.
Although you hadn’t read the book, how aware were you of the big concept of the story? I saw Lynch’s version in the 80’s having read the book(s), but not many people that weren’t SF fans had any familiarity with the story. I think that between the original film and the BBC TV adaptation, many more people had enough grounding in Herbert’s themes to appreciate the new (very good) version. I’m not sure that enough of the general public are familiar with Sandman, much less Gaiman, to grasp the story.
I had seen the Sci-Fi Channel miniseries of Dune beforehand, but that’s it. With Sandman, it sounds like you’re not trusting the showrunners enough to tell a coherent story. I think they’ll have done a good job.
It’s not trusting the showrunners as much as doubting viewers’ ability to comprehend fantasy that they’re not familiar with. Like The Lord of the Rings can be successful because so many people read at least part of the trilogy, or The Hobbit, but Gaiman’s work is not nearly as well known.
I watched Dune with two people who had never read or seen any of it, one 14 and one 47, and they loved it.
are you every studio executive that ruined fantasy and comicbook movies in the 80s and 90s? “We need to add a kid, and a dog!”
Do you think they wanted to “Rastafi” “Sandman”(there is not way exec actually called the character his correct name) by 10%?
Dune caught a lot more people than I expected. It’s not so popular as the commentariat at this kind of site suggests (and may not have actually made it as far in a non-Covid schedule), but it’s pretty strong. A lot more than the Blade Runner sequel certainly.
I thought Dune was fine. Not Denis’ best work, but entertaining in a way.
Fun fact: Everyone who loves Sandman used to be someone who had never read Sandman.
I find this thinking flawed. If something is well made and given time to establish itself, people will watch. It’s not like the vast majority of people had read or even known about A Song of Ice and Fire before watching Game of Thrones.Also I have never read anything with Sandman in it and this trailer looked amazing to me.
Wow. I’m really pleasantly surprised. So many adaptations seem to get so little right and I’m still not exactly holding my breath, but… it really looks good. Crossing my fingers for this one.
Youtube on 1080 is having a real challenge with all those particle effects, but it still looks good!
So this definitely looks like they are adapting the first story arc and expanding it a bit. Not sure I’m a fan of that. The whole quest to get this items of power back was interesting in the comic because it’s played up to be this big long quest but then wraps up in like three issues. I’ve said elsewhere that I think the Sandman comic works best when it’s less about the overall story of Dream and more a episodic anthology where Dream shows up as a character. I love stories like the one about the real life “Emperor of the United States” and now it’s framed as a contest between Dream and his siblings on who’s power really controls him. I’m still optimistic about this because it does look correct and the tone seems right. I just hope they remember Dream is an aloof asshole 99% of the time and not a super hero
I like the stand-alone stories best myself. (“Fables & Reflections” is my favorite collection.) I do hope we see some callbacks to those arcs, especially as they contain some of the series’ best characters. (Hob Gadling? Hello???) That said, it would be great to see “Seasons of Mists” adapted in a future season (🤞🏼).
Even Gaiman himself doesn’t care much for the first arc, and names Issue 8 with Death’s first appearance as the first time he really nailed what the series should be.
I think everyone would agree with that. Issue 8 feels so very different from what’s come before and is still one of the best Sandman stories of all.
I was fortunate in that Issue 8 was the first issue of Sandman that I read. Saw it on a spinner rack in the mall bookstore (anyone else here understand and/or remember those?), looked through it, and bought it. It took a bit of work to hunt down the previous issues in those pre-internet days but I’m really glad I did. I’ve been looking forward to this for over 25 years and am excited to finally see it.
That’s literally how I got into it as well. Wasn’t really into comics, but decided to pick this up from my local supermarket and damn am I glad I did.
All I care about is if Chet’s involved.
Good New, we found a Chet we could hire for cheapBad news
Yeah, looks like they’re making the Corithian into a whole arc villain in this. A pretty big departure from the comic where Dream was only halfheartedly searching for him along with a few other missing nightmares, ran into him mostly by chance and unmade him with contemptible ease.
Agreed. The Corinthian was a scary as hell guy, but would never have threatened Dream like that, because he knows better. Against mortals he is terrifying, but against Dream he is no threat at all.
It looks like it might be the first two arcs; there’s quite a bit of reference to Doll’s House as well. I’ve read an interviews that Death shows up for The Sound of her Wings adaptation in episode 5, so that means that first Arc is wrapped up at about four episodes which seems like the proper length to me.
Gaiman has said s1 will be the first two books/16 issues but with the occasional change, so I’d guess maybe 4 eps for Preludes & Nocturnes & 5 for A Game Of You, which’d leave them with one ep to fit The Sound Of Her Wings & the issue that introduced Nada (unless he’s moved that to s2 just before Seasons of Mists?) https://www.tor.com/2020/07/20/neil-gaiman-says-sandman-season-1-will-cover-preludes-and-nocturnes-and-the-dolls-house/
Doesn’t Gaiman have a hand in this like he did Omens? Dream has never been a hero. It’d be shocking if he turned into one.
This is the most directly involved Gaiman has been in any adaptation. See his Vanity Fair breakdown of the trailer.
It’s the only real straightforward “adventure” that Sandman has, and I think it serves the same purpose here that it did in the comics, to give the audience a familiar way into a very unfamiliar story.
I think I recall reading that season 1 was going to be based on the first two Sandman volumes, so Preludes and Nocturnes, and The Doll’s House.
The OG was an award-winning achievement in graphic arts. The Audible version, miraculously so too in its field. Pre-disposed to believe they can’t make this work (aka “it works better in the imagination”), but dammit if I’m not stoked for it. I just hope they swing for the fences at every turn. Better an epic miss out of passion vs. trying to pander and ending up with white bread. The trailer gives me hope.
Vanity Fair just put out a pretty nice vid with Gaiman going through the trailer. For anyone that’s interested:
I look forward to the Corinthian freaking the fuck out of the general public.
Holbrook’s very odd accent he’s doing here (is he playing Benedict Cumberbatch trying to do an American accent?) works great to underscore his otherworldliness.
I’m baffled with people complaining about the portrayals of Lucifer, Death, and Constantine, among others (not really, I know it is just the same old bullshit from dipshit ignorant gatekeepers), when what really seems to not really look right to me is Sandman himself. I truly hope Tom Sturridge surprise me and shut my mouth, but so far he seems so wrong for the role…
Never read Sandman, and I have to say all the marketing is doing a fantastic job of not actually telling me what the story is. It looks incredible, of course, and the series is so important to a lot of people that I’ll give it a shot. But everything so far has mostly been people saying the word “dream” in different sentences and contexts, so if it winds up bombing…I think you have your answer as to why.
Dreams past & his desires catching up to him & the consequences of that.
That’s the thing. It’s not one story. It’s a story of stories, about stories.
The AV Club: standing strong against Netflix (until something good is on).
Breaking: Sandman (to be) cancelled after two seasons.
Lol—looks like the budget for Neverwhere really came up, huh? (I mean that affectionately.)Anyway, it’s Netflix, it’s per the usual, but I wish there was a nod to the array of artists who worked with Gaiman. As more and more of this stuff is adapted, I’m always disappointed that they don’t get more credit. I hope Dave McKean was involved in credit design or something. Actually, I hope all the artists got to design credits or something, though I doubt it. I bet that single paycheck would be bigger than most comic work in forever.
I’ve read that he came out of retirement to work on the closing credits
Not only that, he designed a different credits sequence for each episode. That’s one way to get people to watch all the way through!
It’s amazing that you typed that whole comment up without first reading the article, which says:
> And, somewhat amazingly, legendary Sandman covers artist Dave McKean is also involved in the project; at Gaiman’s personal request, he provided unique end credits art for each episode of the show.
I skimmed it and missed it. Got it. I hope the other artists get something too.
I would surprised if they didn’t get design credits for compositions directly lifted from the page (which according to Gaiman they did where ever it “wasn’t broke”)
I hope so! It might just me underestimating Gaiman’s influence here, since he is thoughtful and influential, but I would be surprised, the MCU setting and certainly the comics companies setting the standard of expecting nothing on my part.
Sandman is most certainly not MCU 😉
Sure, I mention them because they set the industry standard of how much credit is given, in particular when the shows are very wedded to the comics that they’re derived from. WB isn’t as inspired as MCU is by the comics (for good or ill—let Zack Snyder make stuff up or cherrypick the best stories and adapt them directly?), but Sandman as an adaptation is more like a MCU product than not. Smallville, after all was always a show about young Superman and not even jokingly anything else because Superboy is a contested character, and then they might owe money legally. And again, maybe Gaiman has worked in the other creators in, and he’s catered to unlike other creators, but he’s not the rights holder. I hope Sam Kieth, Jill Thompson, et al get something too without having to create new credits or the like. I doubt it.ETA: Basically, when something looks cool in these things, I can’t be the only one who remembers the artist or the panels that were the inspiration for the designs. They don’t get enough credit, but that practice, of course, is what DC and Marvel comics, and everything after, is built on.
I thought Neil what’s-his-name was canceled because his now-ex-wife Amanda what’s-her-name didn’t like him anymore, and he responded with a subtle insult involving a book somehow?Why is AV Club supporting someone like that?
-An Anonymous Nerd
Marketing could JUST NOT RESIST adding the dark, baby voiced cover of an upbeat song…just that ONE line…at the very end lol…damnnit.
Now the question is, are they going with the original style (horror) or the later philosophical stuff.
Yes.