Back in July, it was revealed that Netflix had signed on to develop a new series based on the critically-acclaimed comic book series “Sandman.” The series is being developed with the comic book series’ writer Neil Gaiman, alongside Allan Heinberg, and David Goyer. “Sandman” is definitely not going to be a cheap series and is expected to be one of the biggest launches for Netflix in the coming years. The streaming service is so confident in the series, apparently, that Gaiman admits that he and the other gentlemen are already working on Season 2.
Speaking to Radio Times, Gaiman was asked about the status of “Sandman.” The writer, who is also one of the producers of the Starz fantasy-drama “American Gods,” said that Netflix is very excited about the project and actually outbid quite a few other studios for the chance to bring “Sandman” to its platform.
“Everybody was bidding on it and Netflix won,” Gaiman said.
For those not familiar with the comics, “Sandman” tells the story of Dream, aka Morpheus the Lord of Dreams, who is one of the Endless (along with Destiny, Death, Destruction, Desire, Despair, and Delirium). The comics followed Morpheus as he has to journey through the history and mythology of the DC universe. Obviously, the superhero aspects are likely going to be toned down and Gaiman’s metaphysical and horror elements will get center stage.
As for the process of creating the series, it appears that Gaiman, Heinberg, and Goyer are still in the early stages of writing the series, but that isn’t stopping them from planning the entire first season as well as what is going to happen in Season 2.
“There are three of us, the showrunner Allan Heinberg, David Goyer and me, and we’ve just finished writing the first episode, and plotting and breaking down the first two seasons, so we’ll see what happens next,” he said.
Some might see this as an awfully ambitious, and perhaps foolishly confident, plan to already plan for two seasons, but with the amount of money that Netflix is going to have to put into “Sandman,” it’s clear that the streaming service isn’t interested in just wasting it all on one batch of episodes. And honestly, if the series can capture even half of the magic (no pun intended) of the comic book series, then Netflix would be silly not to plan for a lengthy future.
There’s still no word on when we might see “Sandman,” but if Gaiman is accurate and only one episode has been written, it’s likely that we’re looking at a very late-2020 debut or maybe, more accurately, 2021.
