Gaiman Talks “Sandman” Adaptation Difficulties – Dark Horizons

Originally scheduled for last month, the coronavirus pandemic delayed production on Netflix’s live-action series adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s DC Vertigo comic series “The Sandman”.
Gaiman this week, as part of a virtual press roundtable, has now offered an update on how the production is progressing and has confirmed what recent character breakdowns had hinted – that the adaptation will make some big alterations to the source material in an effort to update the story and characters for the 21st century.
Gaiman explains to ComicBook.com why they’ve done that and also discussed why so many previous attempts to the property made haven’t borne fruit:
“Okay, it is 2020, let’s say that I was doing Sandman starting in 2020, what would we do? How would we change things? What gender would this character be? Who would this person be? What would be happening?
People have tried making movies and TV adaptations for 30 years, and actively tried making them for 25 years, and they’ve never worked. And they never worked because of all the special effects and what would be needed to do the special effects.
They never worked because you were making something that was adult. People would write Sandman movie scripts, and they go, ‘But it’s an R-rated movie, and we can’t have $100 million R-rated movies.’ So, that wouldn’t happen.
You needed to get to a world in which long-form storytelling is an advantage rather than a disadvantage. And the fact that we have seventy-five issues of Sandman plus – essentially, 13 full books – worth of material, is a really good thing. It’s not a drawback.”
Gaiman adds that he’s seen some of the production designs for Lucifer’s castle and the gates of Hell and do far seems very pleased. The property is back in the spotlight again this month as an Audible drama version of the comic, with James McAvoy in the lead role of Morpheus, will arrive on July 15th.

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