Netflix has revealed several key cast members for The Sandman, its upcoming adaptation of Neil Gaiman's epic dark fantasy comic series. Tom Sturridge has been confirmed for the lead role of the Sandman himself, Dream of the Endless.
The role of Gwendoline Christie has been revealed as Lucifer, the fallen angel who rules Hell. This will be a new version of the DC character inspired by Biblical lore, who is currently played by Tom Ellis in the Netflix series Lucifer. Although Lucifer is depicted as male in the source comics and in Lucifer, he is also of angelic, sexless origins, and it is unknown at this point how Christie's interpretation of the character will interpret their gender.
The other cast members announced are Vivienne Acheampong, Boyd Holbrook, Charles Dance, Asim Chaudhry and Sanjeev Bhaskar. Acheampong will play Lucienne, the faithful chief librarian of Dream's realm, The Dreaming. This is also a character who was male in the comics, with the name of Lucien.
Holbrook will play the part of The Corinthian, who is an "escaped nightmare," a being created to haunt dreams who has broken away to live in the waking world instead.
Charles Dance, known to Game of Thrones fans as Tywin Lannister, has been cast as Roderick Burgess, a human magician whose attempt at blackmail plays an important part in the story's beginnings.
Finally, Sanjeev Bhaskar and Asim Chaudhry will portray Cain and Abel, respectively. The two characters are again of Biblical origin, based on the sons of Adam and Eve, who continue to eternally play out their roles of murderer and victim in The Dreaming.
Neil Gaiman, who will serve as an executive producer and writer on the Netflix series, remarked on the show's production and casting: "For the last thirty-three years, the Sandman characters have breathed and walked around and talked in my head. I'm unbelievably happy that now, finally, they get to step out of my head and into reality. I can't wait until the people out there get to see what we've been seeing as Dream and the rest of them take flesh, and the flesh belongs to some of the finest actors out there. This is astonishing, and I'm so grateful to the actors and to all of The Sandman collaborators — Netflix, Warner Bros., DC, to Allan Heinberg and David Goyer, and the legions of crafters and geniuses on the show — for making the wildest of all my dreams into reality."
A rich blend of modern myth and dark fantasy in which contemporary fiction, historical drama and legend are seamlessly interwoven, The Sandman follows the people and places affected by Morpheus, the Dream King, as he mends the cosmic — and human — mistakes he's made during his vast existence.
Executive produced and co-written by Neil Gaiman and David S. Goyer, Sandman will be the first-ever live-action adaptation of the Vertigo Comics series. Allan Heinberg will serve as the series' showrunner, executive producer and co-writer.
Source: Netflix