Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Entertainment

Netflix’s The Sandman series gets chilling first-look clip

Blair Marnell
By

It’s been a good summer for fans of Neil Gaiman’s seminal fantasy comic book series The Sandman. Last week, Audible released The Sandman: Act II, a continuation of the audio adaptation. However, Netflix has something much more ambitious in the works with its live-action Sandman series. During its Tudum online event, the streaming service debuted the first clip from the series, which features Tom Sturridge as Dream/Morpheus.

Within the mythology of the series, Morpheus is one of the Endless, seven siblings who embody the universal concepts of Dream, Destiny, Death, Destruction, Desire, Despair, and Delirium. The preview clip features Game of Thrones veteran Charles Dance’s Roderick Burgess as he and his cult undertake a dangerous ritual to capture Death (Kirby Howell-Baptiste) herself. Unfortunately for Dream, he’s the one who falls into their trap. And there he remains for decades until the series picks up in the present.

The Sandman | First Look | Netflix

When Dream emerges from captivity after more than a century, he will seek to reclaim the power that was stolen from him. He will also have to bring order to his kingdom, the Dreaming, a realm where humanity’s dreams are real. Nonbinary actor Mason Alexander Park (who also stars in Netflix’s Cowboy Bebop) is portraying Desire, an intergender sibling who seems to hate Dream and enjoys toying with him. Donna Preston is also a part of the series as Despair, another sibling among the Endless.

Tom Sturridge as Dream in The Sandman.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Logan co-star Boyd Holbrook will appear as The Corinthian, a nightmare in human form who has escaped from the Dreaming. Fortunately, many of Dream’s allies remain in his kingdom, including the librarian, Lucienne (Vivienne Acheampong), and Matthew (Patton Oswalt), a raven emissary who was once a man. The eternally feuding brothers, Cain (Sanjeev Bhaskar) and Abel (Asim Chaudhry) are also Dream’s servants in the Dreaming.

Recommended Videos

Another GoT alum, Gwendoline Christie, co-stars as Lucifer, the ruler of Hell, who also has a grudge against Dream. Former Doctor Who star Jenna Coleman will portray Johanna Constantine, a sorceress whose famous relative, John Constantine, recently wrapped up a multiseason stint on DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. Finally, David Thewlis (who played the Ares in Wonder Woman and both Justice League films) will appear as John Dee, a supervillain known as Doctor Destiny who has seized Dream’s Dreamstone and selfishly uses its power to torment others.

Related

Gaiman is executive producing the series with Allan Heinberg and David S. Goyer, both of whom have previous comic book experience under their belts. The Sandman will likely premiere on Netflix in 2022, but a specific release date hasn’t been announced yet.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Blair Marnell
Blair Marnell
Blair Marnell has been an entertainment journalist for over 15 years. His bylines have appeared in Wizard Magazine, Geek…
The Sandman review: dreamy adaptation exceeds expectations
Tom Sturridge wears a mask and cloak as Morpheus in a scene from The Sandman.

There's been no shortage of skeptics when it came to The Sandman, Netflix's adaptation of Neil Gaiman's fantastic comic-book saga revolving around Morpheus, the lord of dreams.

Widely regarded as one of the greatest series ever published, Gaiman's comic is a massive, expertly crafted narrative that spans myriad planes of existence and encompasses a wide swath of characters, yet somehow remains powerfully human and familiar in its themes and the mythology that informs it. Efforts to adapt The Sandman began more than two decades ago, with a multitude of starts, stops, and years spent in limbo leading many to believe the best fans could hope for is the sort of messy, soulless translation that typically results from troubled, long-developing projects.

Read more
Meet the King of Dreams in The Sandman’s new featurette
Tom Sturridge as Dream in The Sandman.

It would not be inaccurate to say that The Sandman is one of the most popular comics that DC has ever published. And yet the leading character, Dream, is largely unknown to the general public. Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman don't have the same issue, since they've been properly adapted many times over. But Netflix's upcoming take on The Sandman is the first time that it has ever been brought into the realm of live action. Fortunately, there's a new featurette video that offers a crash course on who and what Dream is.

The Sandman | The World of The Endless | Netflix

Read more
Enter the world of The Sandman in Netflix’s new trailer
Tom Sturridge as Morpheus stands with his back to the camera in an image from the adaptation of Neil Gaiman's The Sandman.

In the late '80s and early '90s, writer Neil Gaiman and an assortment of artists collaborated on The Sandman comic book series, which helped redefine the medium for mature readers. It has taken the better part of three decades to bring this fantasy story to live-action, but the wait is almost over. Netflix has announced that the series will finally premiere this summer.

To go along with the news, Netflix dropped a new teaser trailer for the series which reveals how Morpheus (Tom Sturridge) was captured over a century ago. This was no small feat, since Morpheus is the King of Dreams and one of the Endless. Once Morpheus is freed, he finds himself somewhat unprepared for the mortal realm. And his own realm, the Dreaming, has been dying without his presence.

Read more