The Sandman, Neil Gaiman's acclaimed graphic novel series about the Lord of the Dreaming, may soon become a television series. Warner Bros. TV is in the process of acquiring the rights from DC Entertainment (Sandman was a success for DC's Vertigo imprint in the 1990s), and Supernatural creator Eric Kripke is in the running to helm the project.
Gaiman's reboot of Jack Kirby's 1970s Sandman series merged horror, fantasy, and history: While introducing the Endless--Dream, aka Morpheus, and his godlike siblings, each representing a facet of human behavior--Gaiman also had his characters dance through history, interacting with literary figures such as Orpheus, Shakespeare, Cain and Able, and Puck. Dream himself is a fascinating character, as he begins the series a prisoner and, as he regains his power over the Dreaming, shows himself to be as capricious and troubled as any human.
Kripke's show Supernatural has sustained itself for six seasons--Kripke declined to renew his contract, saying that he had planned only a five-season arc--with its blend of solid fantasy/mythical creatures, self-referential humor, and lots of death. While Sandman garners laughs more subtly, its lush, intertwining stories and highly esteemed characters would be safe in Kripke's hands.
Gaiman is not currently involved in the Sandman TV series. Due to receiving unsatisfactory scripts from past attempted film adaptations, he has said that he would rather there be no Sandman movie than a bad one, but if there were, the director would need to be "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." That said, he is working on the script for a movie version of Sandman spinoff Death: The High Cost of Living, with Guillermo del Toro executive-producing.
Would you watch the Sandman TV show?
