With its literary prose, historical figures, fantasy visuals, and philosophical themes, Neil Gaiman's The Sandman was one of the most beloved comic book series of the '90s, but it took 30 years to be turned into the streaming series that now exists on Netflix. An immense amount of work behind-the-scenes was necessary to bring Gaiman's the Dreaming (comparable to Tolkien's Narnia or Martin's Westeros) and all its fantastical inhabitants to life.
From an exhaustive audition process that included finding Lucifer, Death, and its Lord of Dreams and figuring out how to bring a written medium to life through visual effects, to adapting a '90s work of fiction into the '20s, it was a Herculean task fulfilling Gaiman's vision while also honoring its dedicated fans.
Over 3,000 Actors Read For The Part Of Morpheus
The part of Morpheus, aka "The Sandman" at the center of Gaiman's saga was a vital role to nail down, and it made sense that a lot of young actors would send in auditions for the part. According to Entertainment Weekly, Gaiman explained that he personally saw "1,500 Morpheus auditions," and hesitated to imagine how many his casting director saw.
As it turns out, he revealed that number while on tour promoting his various works and The Sandman premier. Stopping in the Spring of 2022 in Seattle, Washington for An Evening with Neil Gaiman, he told his audience that Lucinda Syson and the rest of her team had actually seen at least as many as he had, but placed the number closer to 2,000, making 3,500 auditions total. When both groups settled on the same name they knew they had their star.
Tom Sturridge Wanted To Look Like A Creature
How does an actor in his thirties capture what it's like to be a member of the Endless, who is ageless? When the Lord of Dreams is first seen, he's captured and without his powers. Sturridge had a particular way he wanted to begin his character arc, and convey to fans that Morpheus was otherworldly. Recognizing that film is a visual medium, he had to make some decisions about conveying his immortality in the first few scenes, making this one of Sturridge's best roles yet.
Speaking to Rolling Stone, he elucidated; "because [Morpheus] is metabolizing dreams, he’s lost all his flesh. He’s just sinew and bone. I really wanted to make that body. I thought of him as a panther that’s been shaved. It’s not beautiful...Because there was no other opportunity to say, ‘This is a member of the Endless.’ I wanted people to look at the body and think, 'This is a creature.'”
Neil Gaiman Had A Clear Idea What Morpheus Sounds Like
Given that The Sandman began as a comic book series, Sturridge had to develop the voice of Morpheus, and decided to go straight to the source for help. In the same interview with Rolling Stone, the actor revealed that Gaiman said "Morpheus has thought every thought that ever has been thought across the millennia of his existence, so when he speaks, it’s etched in stone. He’s not discovering an idea in the moment. It’s clarity personified.”
That could create an awful lot of pressure for an actor leading a Netflix series, especially, as Gaiman added, “he’s the voice inside your head. He must have authority. He must be potentially dangerous — but it has to be seductive enough for people to accept that invitation.” By that token, Morpheus must be a universally accepted figure, capable of immense influence, yet personable enough for humans to acknowledge his words as coming from someone familiar and trusted.
The Dreaming Was Created With A Mixture Of CGI And Practical Effects
The Dreaming is "the place we go when we close our eyes at night," according to Gaiman, and in order to bring that fantastical realm to life, a wedding between practical effects and CGI visual effects needed to happen to get everything just right.
In this behind-the-scenes featurette offered by Netflix, Gaiman and the cast take a tour of aspects of The Dreaming, as well as investigate some of the props and costumes in the series. It's clear that a great deal of care went into making this world of fantasy seem as realistic and authentic as possible.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt Almost Directed & Starred In A Film Adaptation
Prior to Netflix acquiring The Sandman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt was attached to direct and star in a film adaptation for Warner Bros, right up until the production company sold the entire catalog of Vertigo Comics to New Line Cinema. Once that happened, the actor cited creative differences via his Facebook page as the reason he had to walk away from the project.
While it's a shame Gaiman and Gordon-Levitt's Sandman never happened, it would have been a very different, possibly very condensed version. A streaming series, however, especially of the caliber made now, allows for the much fuller, richer interpretation that the series ultimately demands.
Gwendoline Christie Worked With A Dancer Becoming Lucifer
cast has been all over television, particularly in the fantasy genre, from Doctor Who to Game of Thrones. Gwendoline Christie, who plays Lucifer, the only being who is perhaps equal to Morpheus, was known in the latter as Brienne of Tarth and brings her command of acting under similar fantastical conditions to the role.
Speaking to Den of Geek, Christie revealed that because she has an "intense mental battle" with Morpheus at one point, she had to consider how to interpret the confrontation. Ultimately, she worked with a dancer in order to capture the right mode of expression. Christie has always excelled at transforming the narrative into movement, whether she's fighting in armored combat as a knight or locked in an intellectual battle of wits as an immortal being.
Boyd Holbrook Had To Learn To Act Without Eyes
While Morpheus has many allies among the Endless, he also has enemies, one of which is The Corinthian, a walking nightmare whose eyes are shielded by round black sunglasses at all times. After receiving the part, Boyd Holbrook had to discover a way to act without relying on the expressive nature of his eyes.
In an interview with Den of Geek, Holbrook explained the challenges he had to overcome to make the part a success; "I understood that a trap would be to do more mouth-acting or something like that. I just quickly realized that the focus should be on what he exudes. I acted without worrying about the eyes."
Neil Gaim And Kirby Howell-Baptiste Developed Death Together
Death is not only the most powerful member of the Endless, but an incredibly popular character in Geiman's comics. In The Sandman she's personified by Kirby Howell-Baptiste, who embraced the fact that Death was not the embodiment of sorrow at a grim fate, but jubilance at a life well lived.
"She’s the life and soul of the party," she told Den of Geek, before expanding on working with Geiman to interpret Death as a character. "I could really talk to him about this character that he has known for years. It was really amazing to have him guide me through who he saw her as and who he created her to be." With Death being so popular a character, it's nice to know that her interpretation has been carefully crafted.
John Constantine's Character Had To Be Reconfigured
Gaiman tweaked the source material a bit with the character of Johanna Constantine who, while normally the ancestor of occult detective John Constantine from the 1700s, has also been turned into her modern-day descendant. Eliminating the character of John Constantine, whose part was ittedly small in the comics, opens up a new way to interpret both characters.
In an interview with Den of Geek, Jenna Coleman clarified that playing both Johanna Constantine from the past and as her distant relative "offered quite a different lens into her dynamic with Morpheus." Other series like The Vampire Diaries have made similar creative decisions with their actors, and not only is it efficient, it gives a narrative throughline to the performance.
The Composer Worked To Create A Unique Soundscape
Composer David Buckley worked tireslly to give The Sandman its dreamlike, ethereal soundscape, setting it apart from other Netflix series with the breadth of its instrumentation. Speaking to Screen Rant, Buckley explained that the executives wanted "someone who knows how to be spare and ambient, but we also want someone who can be big and symphonic."
He based a lot of his soundscape on the way Dream "lurks" as a presence, often affecting a scene he isn't even in. It's clear that to properly score the series, a composer like Buckley would have to assess the sum of its parts, and have a vision for its bigger picture and themes.