‘Sandman’ Cast Tells Us a Lot About The Upcoming Series – Burgess, Lucienne, and The Endless
The upcoming Netflix live-action series has some great casting choices that can give us hints about where the series is going.
Filming for the first season of The Sandman adaptation wrapped in July of 2021, and it feels like we’ve been holding our breath for a premiere date. While casting announcements have been out for a good while, the list of performers still gives our imaginations plenty to chew on in the absence of a first episode.
What is the Sandman about?
Based on a comic book by Neil Gaiman that ran from 1989-1996. It follows an anthropomorphized lord of the Dreaming, the place we go when we fall asleep or use our imaginations. He and his siblings, Death, Destiny, Despair, Delirium, Destruction, and Desire are responsible for maintaining each of their respective realms.
What Casting Can Tell Us About Sandman Season 1
The series will undoubtedly begin with a similar plot from its first volume, Preludes & Nocturnes, in which the Lord of Dreams is captured and imprisoned by a hack-job sorcerer who is attempting to capture Death before his own untimely demise.
The sorcerer Roderick Burgess will be played by Charles Dance, best known for playing the Machiavellian head of House Lannister in Game of Thrones. This talented actor looks to be adding another incredibly satisfying on-screen death to his repertoire, and could easily look like he stepped directly out of the comic.
The Cast of the Dreaming
When Morpheus is finally free and able to return to The Dreaming, he finds it in disrepair. Many of its residents have run away to haunt the human world. We know one will be The Corinthian, an uncanny valley nightmare created to reflect the aspects of humanity we don’t want to face. Played by Boyd Holbrook, this character could easily be the most memorable and terrifying design that will come to life in the series.
Courtesy of DC comics
Vivienne Acheampong will play Lucienne, Lord Morpheus’ right-hand, and the observant librarian of dreams. Lucienne is responsible for organizing dreams and imagined stories, and will likely do her best to keep the Dreaming together after Morpheus goes missing. She will surely be helped by Patton Oswalt’s character Matthew, the sarcastic raven servant to the Dream Lord.
The first brothers, murderous Cain and pitiable Abel will come to life in season 1 as well. One of the most exciting aspects of seeing these characters come to life will be their habitats: the two brothers are the keepers of the Houses of Secret and Mystery. The House of Mystery in particular is an inter-dimensional home of many horrific stories and could provide a platform for a spin-off series similar to the comic.
From the Dreaming, Morpheus must retrieve his items of power: his helm, the dream jewel, and his bad of dream sand. From the casting, we can assume that these stories will follow similarly to the comic as well. First, he must travel to Hell and meet Lucifer. Gwendolyn Christie’s casting lends itself to the image of Lucifer as the beautiful and fair fallen angel, as a characterization that’s truer to the source content than Tom Ellis’ rendition. But with talks of the series budget being on the lavish side, the landscape of Hell itself promises to be a talking point, too.
Morpheus lands at the gates of Hell, courtesy of DC comics
Next, he must visit the deranged John Dee, also known as Doctor Destiny. Played by David Thewlis, who is no stranger to dark and fantastical roles, the casting has readers wondering if the diner scene will be as gruesome in real life as we remember it from the panels.
John Dee attempts to keep the stone, courtesy of DC comics
Lastly, Dream has to get his bad of dream sand. In this comic, an old girlfriend of Johnny Constantine has taken the bag and is slowly withering away, using the sand to get high. Instead of a Johnny in the cast, it appears that one of his ancestors Johanna may assist Dream in his quest. The comics place Johanna alive during the French revolution, but it’s unknown if her character will be alive in the present day.
And a few More of the Endless
Not all of the Endless has been cast, but several don’t appear until later in the series anyway. We do know that Death will be played by Kirby Howell-Baptiste, a character whose performance in The Good Place alone gives us a glimpse into the wisened and whimsical tone the character could take in the upcoming series.
Twins Desire and Despair have also been cast, with Mason Alexander Park playing the genderfluid master of lust and want, and the mournful Despair to be played by Donna Preston. While she isn’t a heavily contributing character until later in the books, I’m already eagerly looking forward to a casting announcement for the wayward Delirium.
When Will the Story Take Place?
The Sandman comic’s iconic art is, for the most part, dated in the late 80s and early 90s. The era’s aesthetic is all over the comics and even expressed through the imaginings of the Endless themselves. Save for Destiny and Destruction, none of the characters would look out of place standing in the crowd at a dark bar where The Cure is playing loudly.
Gaiman has confirmed that Morpheus will be freed in the modern-day rather than the late 80s when the comic book story occurs. While this change will certainly give the story a refreshing feeling for comic book fans, new viewers should be highly encouraged to read the comic.
There’s no release date or official trailer yet, but this behind-the-scenes video gives a look at the work being put in to make the series live up to its source material. And it looks amazing. I can’t wait to watch it.
