Netflix's live-action Sandman 'hibernating' through coronavirus, Neil Gaiman says

Neil Gaiman’s iconic Sandman has had one of the longest and bumpiest roads to the screen, so another waiting period before the Lord of Dreams’ TV debut on Netflix is nothing the comic hero can’t handle. Even if this particular bump is caused by the coronavirus pandemic waylaying the entire entertainment industry, fans of Morpheus and his Vertigo series have some good news despite the delay: an update that comes directly from Gaiman himself.

Morpheus and his emo family have earned the moniker “The Endless,” if the wait for their exploits to make it off the page is any indication, but their creator says things are closer than ever. Writing on his Tumblr account (yes, Gaiman still has and uses a Tumblr), the author explained the production situation to a fan wondering when the live-action adaptation — showrun by Allan Heinberg (Wonder Woman) and co-written with Gaiman by David Goyer (The Dark Knight) — would be underway.

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“It’s going really well, except it’s kind of hibernating right now until people start making TV again,” Gaiman wrote of the adaptation that brings Morpheus to the present day. Gaiman recently helped bring his American Gods and Good Omens to TV, so his adaptations have only been picking up steam.

“The scripts for the first season are written, casting had started, directors hired, sets were being built," the author continued. "Everything was ready to go into production, and then we moved into a pause. As soon as the world is ready to make TV drama, Sandman will move smoothly back into being made. In the meantime, we are taking the opportunity to get the scripts as good as we can.”

It’s great news that casting is already underway, even though nothing has been made public, and that the scripts are all finished up. That bolsters the news that Gaiman and crew had already moved on from the first season’s 11 episodes and started breaking the second season. The Sandman comic’s 75-issue run was never going to fit into just one season, but to get that particular metaphysical ball rolling, the first season needs to enter production — and it seems that as soon as the world recovers from the coronavirus, it will.