The Sandman, a Netflix series based on the graphic novels of the same name by Neil Gaiman, is set to debut on the streaming service Friday, but what long-time fans of the series might not realize is that the jump from page to screen was 30 years in the making.
The first graphic novel was released in 1989, while the initial attempt to put it on the screen began in 1991 but collapsed. This was followed by several additional attempts that also fell through, leaving the project languishing in production hell for decades. It seemed like there was light at the end of the Sandman tunnel when in 2013 an adaptation starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt was announced. However, the project failed once again due to creative disagreements. Finally, in 2019, Netflix picked up the rights for adapting Gaiman’s story into a series, rather than a standalone film. Needless to say, all the ups and downs and people’s deep love for the source material mean that there’s an enormous amount of pressure and anticipation for the series when it finally hits screens this week.
No one is more aware of that pressure and the legacy of the books than series star Tom Sturridge, who plays the titular Sandman aka Morpheus and says he “absolutely” appreciates the importance of getting it right. “Mainly, very simply because I am a fan of it. Because I care about Sandman so much. It’s one of the most important pieces of literature to me,” he tells PRIDE. “I know exactly what [Sandman fans are] feeling because I’m feeling it too. And I am skeptical, and I am anticipatory. And I am excited.” Sturridge admits he hasn’t seen the series yet, but he can’t wait to. “I don’t know about you, but I made a film of it in my head when I read it. Like I’ve seen it already,” he says. “And I know that everyone, the legion of people who love it, as much as I do have made that film as well. I wanted to do justice to those films that we all had in our dreams.”
The series is a very faithful (and loving) retelling of the graphic novels, but there are some minor yet meaningful changes made throughout, including in the casting. In the series, Morpheus’ loyal companion and head librarian of the Dreaming, Lucien, is played by Vivienne Acheampong and has been renamed Lucienne in line with the gender flip of the character. It’s one of the small but impactful ways that the series has received updates while remaining true to Gaiman’s original vision. “We’re so lucky because we’ve got the original source material, by Neil Gaiman, who creates these incredibly rich, deep, complex, amazing characters that just literally just present themselves...they just jump out of the page,” Acheampong tells PRIDE. “I feel that what I’ve hopefully done is just managed to lift that off the page and bring it to the screen because that’s what Lucienne is, that is who that character is. She has waited for Dream; she has preserved what he’s created to the best of her ability. But she is loyal and hardworking. And she has a deep love for this relationship. There is a deep love there.”
Sturridge agrees that the series has taken important strides when it comes to representation. “It’s fantastic. But I mean, that’s how it should be. This shouldn’t be an anomaly. This is just what the truth is; this is the truth of the world,” he says. “What Neil wanted to do was not make a period piece that he started writing in 1989. And so sort of to be truly literal in the translation, you’d have to begin then, and he didn’t want to do that. He wanted to start it now and that can only enrich the story by having an honest portrayal of who people are in the world we live in... this is the world. We live it, we love it.”
But as Acheampong adds, what makes all of the representation in The Sandman truly impressive comes down to its execution — specifically how it’s handled subtly and without drawing a lot of attention to it. “You can just be,” she says. “It’s not that you’re queer or you’re a woman, so we have to talk about that and really dissect it....that’s what I find really liberating. What enriches it isn’t necessarily talked about because it’s just like, ‘yep, this is the world now let’s move on.’”
While the road to the screen was full of twists, turns, and heartache for The Sandman, it’s very possible those previous versions wouldn’t have been so inclusive and diverse in how they approached the characters or their casting. The series proves once again that the best things in life are worth the wait.
The Sandman debuts on August 5 on Netflix. Watch PRIDE’s full interview with Sturridge and Acheampong below.
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