In a recent interview with Digital Spy, creator Neil Gaiman revealed a new detail about Netflix‘s long-awaited series adaptation of Vertigo Comic’s The Sandman, confirming that the show’s storyline will be set in 2021. His confirmation actually echoed his previous statement about making a few changes or updates on the popular story and characters in order to fit into the current era.
“We’re working with Netflix, we were meant to start shooting at the end of May,” Gaiman shared. “Given this COVID world, everything is on pause. 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.”
He added, “We’ll take that one, see what that does. It’s already in the scripts, it does interesting things because… if we were creating this character now, what gender would the character be?”
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There have been countless attempts to turn the seminal Sandman comics into live-action adaptations before, dating back into the 90s when the series began. Recently Joseph Gordon-Levitt was attached to star in and direct a feature film adaptation at WB’s New Line Cinema before that version failed to materialize.
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Sandman, which launched DC Comics’ Vertigo imprint, ran for 75 issues beginning in 1989. Gaiman’s worlds-within-worlds weaved an episodic anthology, focusing on the allegorical character of Dream and his brothers and sisters, known as the Endless (Death, Desire, Despair, Delirium, Destruction and Destiny).
The series will executive produced by Neil Gaiman and David Goyer with Wonder Woman co-writer Allan Heinberg serving as the showrunner. Last year, Gaiman has also revealed that they are also already planning for a potential second season.
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The Sandman series adaptation marks another high-profile comic adaptation for Netflix, which already has Dark Horse’s Umbrella Academy in production on a second season along with many Mark Millar works like The Magic Order & Jupiter’s Legacy.
