Tom Sturridge who played the role of Sergeant Francis Troy in Far From the Madding Crowd, Gwendoline Christie who played Brienne of Tarth and Charles Dance who played Tywin Lannister in the Game Of Thrones series and Boyd Holbrook who played the role of DEA agent Steve Murphy in the early seasons of Narcos will feature in The Sandman, Netflix’s television adaptation of the comic book series of the same name created for DC by author Neil Gaiman.
Vivienne Acheampong who last appeared in the 2020 film The Witches, Sanjeev Bhaskar who plays Sunil “Sunny” Khan in drama series Unforgotten and Asim Chaudhry most popular for his performance in People Just Do Nothing, will also feature in the 11-episode series.
In 1991, Gaiman’s Sandman that was originally published as a monthly comic, became the first ever comic book series to receive a literary award- the 1991 World Fantasy Award for Best Short Story. The dark fantasy revolves around the character named ‘King of Dream’ or ‘Morpheus’ and his siblings Destiny, Death, Desire, Despair, Delirium, and Destruction.
While Sturridge will be playing the role of the King of Dream or Morpheus in Netflix’s adaptation, Christie and Acheampong will be seen as Lucifer or the Ruler of Hell and Lucienne, the librarian at Dreams’ realm, respectively, however, with a gender flip as, Lucifer and Lucienne are both male characters, in the comic series.
“Casting Lucifer was a delight,” Gaiman tweeted while officially announcing the cast, on Friday.
Dance will be seen as Roderick Burgess, “the Charalatan and Magician” while Bhaskar and Chaudhry will be seen as The First Predator Cain and The First Victim Abel, respectively. Holbrook will be seen as The Corinthian, ‘an escaped nightmare’.
The adaptation, first announced by Netflix in July 2019, will have Allan Heinberg of Wonder Woman fame as the showrunner. Gaiman along with Heinberg and David S. Goyer will be writing the television series with the former two also stepping into the shoes of executive producers.
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“For the last 33 years, the Sandman characters have breathed and walked around and talked in my head. I’m unbelievably happy that now, finally, they get to step out of my head and into reality,” Gaiman said in a statement to Deadline.
According to Netflix, its adaptation of The Sandman is “a rich blend of modern myth and dark fantasy in which contemporary fiction, historical drama and legend are seamlessly interwoven, The Sandman follows the people and places affected by Morpheus, the Dream King, as he mends the cosmic–and human–mistakes he’s made during his vast existence”.
Details about other cast members of Netflix’s adaptation of The Sandman will be announced soon.