Hey, Mr. Sandman! Bring me a Dream [DUN DUN DUN DUN]… And a Lucifer. And a Corinthian. And a bunch more… and make them the cutest cast that I’ve seen!
Yes, my butchering of The Chordettes’ classic 1954 ditty aside, Netflix has finally revealed the primary cast of the very, veeeeeery long-in-development live-action adaptation of The Sandman! Various adaptations of Neil Gaiman’s beloved graphic novel series had been attempted in Hollywood for what feels like decades now, with all of them going nowhere. But for the last two years, Netflix has been putting their own big-budget version and the fantasy adaptation just took a big step forward.
As for the cast, as revealed on Twitter, the previous rumours were indeed true in that British actor Tom Sturridge (who in the promo pic looks like he’s an aged-down clone of Gaiman himself) has been confirmed as Dream aka Morpheus, one of the mythological Endless, living personifications of universal aspects such as dreams, death, desire, etc. The story kicks off when the powerful Dream escapes from the prison he had been held in for decades by a powerful human sorcerer and attempts to reclaim the domain he had subsequently lost.
Another major bit of casting is Gwendolin Christie as Lucifer. Yes, you read that correctly. While portrayed as male in the comics (Gaiman’s version would actually spin off into his own comic book which would then be very loosely adapted into the current Lucifer TV series on Netflix), the Game of Thrones actress will be presenting a new take on the ruler of Hell. We also get confirmation that Narcos alum Boyd Holbrook will be playing The Corinthian, a literal nightmare that has escaped Dream’s domain.
In a series of tweets, Gaiman actually broke down the entire cast list himself, giving some neat insights into some of them.
Gaiman stated in subsequent tweets that these seven actors are just the first of hundreds of castings to be done for the production. He also stated that “For those who like mysteries, Sandman is huge, and the cast is enormous. And there are many mysteries remaining.”
The filming on The Sandman was supposed to start last May but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Shooting eventually kicked off in October where it was limited to just an enclosed location in the UK and is currently still underway.
Last Updated: January 29, 2021
Original Heretic
January 29, 2021 at 01:59
Very keen to see Christie as Lucifer.
I see them doing it as an androgynous type look, akin to what Tilda Swinton did with Gabriel in Constantine.
And damn it would work.
Kervyn Cloete
January 29, 2021 at 04:18
Yeah that’s exactly what I’m thinking!