WIRE Buzz: Chilling Adventures of Sabrina's S5 'Witch War'; Miles Morales graphic novel; Sandman

After being canceled earlier this week, Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina isn’t leaving its fans high and dry — though it is leaving them without one of the coolest sounding plotlines in spellslinging TV. 

Showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa spoke publicly (on Twitter) about the future of the series, which will have its fourth and final season later this year, explaining what was planned to come — and where it will eventually land. Kiernan Shipka fans should pay careful attention, because this might be one of the simplest, coolest witch-pitches out there.

Take a look:

“Thank you for all the love, #sabrinanetflix fans,” the creator wrote. “Part Four is our best yet and Part Five, ‘Witch War,’ would’ve been AMAZING. To be continued in the pages of #CAOS comic book…”

Two words: Witch War. Sold. A Witch War sounds pretty awesome, and not just in a “grass is greener” way now that fans won’t be seeing the battles in live-action. But at least a Chilling Adventures of Sabrina comic storyline over the same subject matter will help soothe the pain.

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina returns to end its TV run later this fall.

Next, Marvel is launching another literary campaign spearheaded by one of its fan-favorite characters who’s recently had a multimedia breakout. Miles Morales, star of Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse and an upcoming Spider-Man video game, will lead a team-up between the comics giant and Scholastic with the graphic novel Miles Morales: Shock Waves.

The book (by writer Justin A. Reynolds and artist Pablo Leon) spearheads the Original Graphic Novel initiative that Marvel explains will be a multi-year program featuring superheroes like Kamala Khan (from writer Nadia Shammas) and Shuri (from writer Roseanne A. Brown). The story follows Morales as he leads a fundraiser for Puerto Rico...but the corporation sponsoring his charity might not be all it seems.

“Ever since he entered the Marvel Universe a few years ago, Miles has struck a deep and personal chord with fans around the world,” said Marvel editor Lauren Bisom. “As Spider-Man, he embodies that classic coming-of-age story. But as Miles, he represents so much more — and his life experiences, his culture, and his ability to embrace his inner strength make him one of the most important and inspirational heroes in the Marvel Universe.”

More info about Shock Waves, which debuts next spring, and the other graphic novels is coming later this year.

Finally, author Neil Gaiman has shed a little more light into the Netflix adaptation of his beloved comic creation, Sandman. The show has been in the writing phase for a while — not helped by the pandemic’s production delays — which has left fans wondering what the live-action series will look like, as it will bring the source’s fantastical characters to the world of flesh and blood for the first time.

According to ComicBook, Gaiman spoke at a virtual roundtable for the upcoming Audible adaptation of the first few books in the Sandman series, also dropping some knowledge on his television thought process. While the audiobook adaptation looks to be a relatively faithful 1-to-1 reading of the books, a series has some wiggle room — especially when it’s being brought to present day.

Gaiman said that when “doing the Netflix TV series, we're very much looking at that as going, '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?'”

Now, the gender of the androgynous, Robert Smith-esque Morpheus could be a very interesting area to play around with — though there are plenty of characters that might be genderbent from the original by Gaiman, David Goyer, and showrunner Allan Heinberg. Gaiman also teased fans’ imaginations by describing some of the concept art he’s been shown regarding the show’s production.

"I get these emails of production design stuff on Netflix and Sandman that I just want to show them to everybody, and I know that I can't. They're incredibly confidential, but I look at them, and I glow,” Gaiman said. “The other day they sent me Lucifer's castle and the gates to Hell and all of these Hell designs, and I'm just like, 'This is amazing. Oh my gosh.' It's like watching Kelly Jones' nightmares and Sam Keith and Mike Dringenberg's nightmares just coming to life.” 

Fans will have to wait a little longer for Sandman to drag them to Hell, but those looking to get their quick fix of the Dreamscape can find it on Audible on July 15.