The Sandman (TV series)

Attempts to adapt The Sandman, an American comic book written by Neil Gaiman and published by DC Comics from 1989 to 1996, had languished in development hell since the 1990s.[5] Inquisitr wrote that "Sandman's nature as a comic has been a very unique and life-changing experience for many and that made it very difficult and challenging to translate into the small and big screens."[6]

Gaiman was first asked about a film adaptation by DC's corporate sibling Warner Bros. in 1991, an offer to which he was apprehensive.[1] Development on a film adaptation began in 1996,[6] with Roger Avary attached to direct and Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio writing the script. Elliot and Rossio's script merged the first two Sandman storylines, "Preludes & Nocturnes" and "The Doll's House", into a single story. While Gaiman enjoyed the script, Avery and producer Jon Peters could not agree, so Avery was fired.[1] A 1998 Sandman script, written by William Farmer, was referred to by Gaiman as "not only the worst Sandman script I've ever seen, but quite easily the worst script I've ever read."[6] Farmer's script featured radical differences from the source material, such as casting Dream as a villain and making him Lucifer Morningstar's brother.[1]

After reading Farmer's script, Gaiman became doubtful that The Sandman would be adapted to film. In 2007, he remarked that he would "rather see no Sandman movie made than a bad Sandman movie", but added that he "[felt] like the time for a Sandman movie is coming soon. We need someone who has the same obsession with the source material as Peter Jackson had with Lord of the Rings or Sam Raimi had with Spider-Man."[6] He said that he could see Terry Gilliam directing the adaptation: "I would always give anything to Terry Gilliam, forever, so if Terry Gilliam ever wants to do Sandman then as far as I'm concerned Terry Gilliam should do Sandman."[7] In 2013, DC Entertainment president Diane Nelson said that a Sandman film was a project she considered a priority, considering the prospect as rich as the Harry Potter universe.[8]

David S. Goyer, who had helped with DC's Batman film franchise,[1] pitched a Sandman adaptation to Warner Bros. in 2013,[9] and by February 2014 was set to produce the film alongside Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Gaiman, with Jack Thorne writing. Warner Bros. planned for Gordon-Levitt to star and possibly direct.[10] The film was set to be produced by New Line Cinema as part of a slate of films based on properties published under DC's Vertigo imprint, separate from the DC Extended Universe.[11][lower-alpha 1] Eric Heisserer was hired to rewrite the film's script in March 2016;[12] immediately afterwards, Gordon-Levitt departed due to disagreements with Warner Bros. over the creative direction of the film.[13] The following November, Heisserer turned in his draft but departed, stating that the project should be an HBO series instead of a film: "I … came to the conclusion that the best version of this property exists as an HBO series or limited series, not as a feature film, not even as a trilogy. The structure of the feature film really doesn't mesh with this."[14]

Due to the prolonged development period of the film, in 2010 DC Entertainment shifted focus onto developing a television adaptation. Film director James Mangold pitched a series concept to HBO while consulting with Gaiman on an unofficial basis, but this proved unsuccessful. It was reported in September 2010 that Warner Bros. Television was licensing the rights to produce a TV series, and that Supernatural creator Eric Kripke was their preferred candidate to adapt the saga.[1][15] Gaiman later revealed that he disapproved of Kripke's take, and development on the television adaptation halted because Goyer's film was progressing smoothly.[1]

In June 2019, Netflix signed a deal with Warner Bros. to produce the series and gave it an order of eleven episodes. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Warner Bros. pitched the series to multiple networks—including HBO, which declined to move ahead with it due to its massive budget. Netflix "snapped it up" as part of its attempts to obtain big intellectual properties and attract subscribers.[5] The series was developed by Allan Heinberg, who will executive produce alongside Gaiman and Goyer.[16][17] Gaiman said he would be more involved than he was with the television adaptation of his American Gods (2001), but less than he was with the adaptation of Good Omens (1990).[1]

According to Gaiman, the plan is to faithfully adapt the series, beginning with the first season adapting "Preludes & Nocturnes".[1] However, the series features changes intended to update the story for modern times. For example, it begins in 2021 rather than 1989, with Dream now having being imprisoned for 105 years instead of 75 years. Gaiman stated that the team attempted to reinvent Dream as if "we were creating [him] now"; this included considering changing Dream's gender.[18]

In September 2020, Tom Sturridge entered negotiations to portray Dream, after screen testing alongside Tom York and Colin Morgan,[19] while Liam Hemsworth and Dacre Montgomery were under consideration for the role of the Corinthian.[20] Casting news was kept tightly under wraps and was not publicly released when the first season began filming.[21] According to Boyd Holbrook, the casting process was long, recalling that he auditioned around January 2020 but did not receive any further information until September.[22]

In January 2021, Sturridge, Gwendoline Christie, Vivienne Acheampong, Holbrook, Charles Dance, Asim Chaudhry, and Sanjeev Bhaskar were announced to be starring in the series.[23]

The series was originally to begin filming towards the end of May, but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[18] In September 2020, Gaiman revealed on his Twitter that filming was expected to begin in October "lockdown permitting".[24] Filming commenced on October 15, 2020.[25] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, filming for the first season was limited to the United Kingdom.[26] Holbrook began shooting his scenes in December 2020. Production for the first season is expected to last until June 2021.[22]