One of the most eagerly anticipated new premieres coming to Netflix this year, The Sandman adapts the landmark comic book series for the premium streaming service. Boasting an all-star cast and high production values, the show is an ambitious retelling and modernization of the fantasy horror tale set in the world of reality and living dreams. While faithfully adapting the comic book, The Sandman updates and streamlines the story, making it more accessible to unfamiliar audiences while providing plenty of nods and moments for longtime fans of the influential epic to enhance the experience.
The Sandman adapts the comic story created by Neil Gaiman, Sam Kieth, and Mike Dringenberg, following Morpheus, the Lord of Dreams, as he is imprisoned by a cult in the early 20th century. Freeing himself over a century later, Morpheus finds himself weakened, his surreal kingdom in tatters, and sinister nightmares roaming free on Earth. Determined to rebuild his domain and reclaim power, Morpheus faces off against a whole host of terrifying enemies while contending with the Endless, his siblings personifying different elements of the human condition.
The inaugural season of the Netflix series tackles the first two story arcs of the comic book series, chronicling Morpheus' quest to restore his power and track down the most lethal nightmare of them all. Right from the opening, with its sprawling sets and impressive visual effects, it's clear that a lot of painstaking hard work has gone into translating The Sandman to the screen. The show moves at quite a brisk pace, given the amount of story these ten episodes cover, but knows exactly when to come up for air before diving back into its own narrative.
Portraying Morpheus is Tom Sturridge, whose performance works best when his character is out of his element, either facing down the vicious Lucifer (Gwendoline Christie) or having existential pangs of self-doubt. Both Kirby Howell-Baptiste and Jenna Coleman, playing Morpheus' sister Death and Johanna Constantine, respectively, quite nearly steal the show, both cool and confident in their own way yet with a heartbreaking amount of warmth under the surface. Boyd Holbrook positively ratchets up the terrifying tension as the murderous Corinthian, the ultimate, charismatic evil housed behind a pair of cheap sunglasses.
For fans looking for a completely scene-for-scene faithful translation of The Sandman, the comic book and Audible audio drama are both still readily available. All the broad strokes of the classic story are present here but expanded upon and brought to the 21st century. This is the world of the Dreaming as it appears in 2022, not 1989 when the comic series started. Gaiman and his fellow writers have more than kept the narrative and thematic spirit of the source material alive and well in this adaptation. Fans are in for a treat in seeing their favorite moments come to life.
Fans have been waiting for a screen adaptation of The Sandman for a long time, and now that it's finally here, this translation more than manages to live up to lofty expectations. Featuring a stellar, engaging cast and story beats lifted directly from the comic book series, the show is about as faithful and good of an adaptation as one could hope for. With plenty of story still unexplored, one hopes The Sandman will get the opportunity to go the distance and complete the full breadth of the fantasy epic as it was originally realized on the comic book page all those years ago.
Developed for television by Neil Gaiman, David S. Goyer, and Allan Heinberg, The Sandman is now available to stream on Netflix.