After previously revealing that Netflix's television adaptation of Vertigo Comics' The Sandman would be updated to take place in the 21st century, Neil Gaiman has confirmed that the series will be set in the upcoming year of 2021.
According to Gaiman, this update will actually not affect the origin story of Dream of the Endless, aka Morpheus. In the original Sandman comics, Morpheus was imprisoned by the Order of Ancient Mysteries in the year 1916, finally escaping seven decades later in 1988 (i.e. around the time the comic itself was first published). In the Netflix adaptation, Morpheus will apparently still be captured in 1916, though this time he will remain confined for an additional three decades, or just over a century in total. Gaiman also discussed how production on The Sandman was supposed to begin earlier this year, but the ongoing Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic threw a wrench in those plans.
"We're working with Netflix, we were meant to start shooting at the end of May," the writer told Digital Spy. "Given this COVID world, everything is on pause." Gaiman continued, "The Netflix version is going to begin in 2021, so Morpheus will have been kept prisoner in the Netflix version for 105 years rather than 70 years."
Created by Gaiman alongside artists Sam Keith and Mike Dringenberg, Vertigo's The Sandman debuted in January of 1989. The first season of Netflix's TV series adapts content from its first two story arcs, Preludes & Nocturnes and The Doll's House. In his previous comments (via ComicBook.com), Gaiman -- who will serve as an executive producer and a writer -- explained why the decision was made to update the comic's story for modern times.
"'Okay, it is 2020, let's say that I was doing Sandman starting in 2020, what would we do? How would we change things? What gender would this character be? Who would this person be? What would be happening?'" Gaiman said. The writer also went into detail regarding how both advancements in technology and the evolution of the cultural zeitgeist made the upcoming adaptation possible to begin with.
"For Netflix right now, people have tried making some movies and TV adaptations for 30 years, and actively tried making them for 25 years, and they've never worked," Gaiman said. "And they never worked because of all the special effects and what would be needed to do the special effects. They never worked because you were making something that was adult. People would write Sandman movie scripts, and they go, 'But it's an R-rated movie, and we can't have $100 million R-rated movies.' So, that wouldn't happen. You needed to get to a world in which long-form storytelling is an advantage rather than a disadvantage." He elaborated, "The technology wasn't there. The budget wasn't there. The audience wasn't there. The delivery systems weren't there. The idea of going off and doing Preludes & Nocturnes and The Doll's House as our first 10 episodes, nobody would've let us do that. The world wasn't ready. So, it's ready now. They caught up with us."