Netflix and Warner Bros. Television have announced that they have enlisted 12 more cast members to join Neil Gaiman’s highly-anticipated series adaptation of Vertigo Comic’s The Sandman, with Kirby Howell-Baptiste (Killing Eve, Cruella) signing on for the fan-favorite role of Death. Golden Globe nominees Joely Richardson (Nip/Tuck), David Thewlis (Harry Potter films), and Stephen Fry (Wilde) have also joined the cast along with Emmy winner Patton Oswalt (Ratatouille) and Jenna Coleman (Doctor Who). Richardson, Thewlis, Fry, and Coleman are set to portray the respective roles of Ethel Cripps, John Dee, Gilbert, and Johanna Constantine, with Oswalt voicing the character of Matthew the Raven.
Mason Alexander Park, Donna Preston, Razane Jammal, Niamh Walsh, Kyo Ra, and Sandra James Young have also been cast for the roles of Desiree, Despair, Lyta Hall, Young Ethel Cripps, Rose Walker, and Unity Kincaid, respectively.
Meet the cast of @netflix’s #TheSandman From the mind of Neil Gaiman. pic.twitter.com/J4zBwhinn2
— Warner Bros. TV (@warnerbrostv) May 26, 2021
Howell-Baptiste’s Death is Dream’s wiser, nicer, and much more sensible sister. Park’s Desire is Dream’s sibling and everything you want, whatever you want and whoever you are. Desire is also trouble for Dream. Coleman’s Johanna Constantine is a haunted exorcist and Occult Adventuress for Hire. She is John Constantine’s great-great-great-grandmother.
Richardson and Walsh’s Ethel Cripps – Roderick Burgess’s love, John Dee’s mother, is a small but vital role in the comics, but she became more important throughout the story. In the 1920s-1930s, she is described as a betrayed and determined young woman, who’s seeking to survive. However, in the present day, she is known as a master thief, who has lived through a hundred identities and a thousand lies.
Thewlis’ John Dee is Ethel’s dangerous son. He was driven mad, long ago. Now he’s out and on a quest for Truth that may destroy the world. Kyo Ra’s Rose Walker is a young woman on a desperate search for her missing brother, who finds a family she didn’t know that she had, and a connection to Dream that neither of them can escape.
Jammal’s Lyta Hall is Rose’s friend, a young widow mourning her husband Hector. Rose doesn’t know that Hector has started showing up in Lyta’s dreams, though. Or that strange things are happening. Young’s Unity Kinkaid is an Heiress, Rose’s mysterious benefactor. She has spent a century asleep. Now she’s awake, having missed out on her life.
Fry’s Gilbert is Rose Walker’s debonair protector. A dab hand with a paradox and a sword cane. Oswalt’s Matthew is Dream’s trusted emissary and a raven.
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The Sandman is being described as a rich blend of modern myth and dark fantasy in which contemporary fiction, historical drama, and legend are seamlessly interwoven. It 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. Gaiman previously confirmed that the Netflix series would take place in 2021, stating “Morpheus will have been kept prisoner in the Netflix version for 105 years rather than 70 years.”
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The live-action series will be led by Tom Sturridge (Sweetbitter) as Dream, the Lord of the Dreaming; Gwendoline Christie (Game of Thrones) as Lucifer, the ruler of Hell; Vivienne Acheampong (The Witches) as Lucienne, the chief librarian and trusted guardian of Dream’s realm; Boyd Holbrook (Logan) as The Corinthian, an escaped nightmare who wishes to taste all that the world has in store; Charles Dance (Game of Thrones) as Roderick Burgess, a charlatan, blackmailer, and magician; Asim Chaudhry (Black Mirror: Bandersnatch), and Sanjeev Bhaskar (Yesterday) Abel and Cain, the first victim and the first predator, who are residents and loyal subjects of the Dream Realm.
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The live-action series is being written by Gaiman (American Gods) and Allan Heinberg (Wonder Woman, Grey’s Anatomy), who will also serve as showrunner. David S. Goyer (Batman Begins, Foundation) will executive produce the drama from Warner Bros. Television. Last year, Gaiman has also revealed that they are also already planning for a potential second season.
Sandman, which launched DC Comics’ Vertigo imprint, ran for 75 issues beginning in 1989. Gaiman’s worlds-within-worlds weaved an episodic anthology, focusing on the allegorical character of Dream and his brothers and sisters, known as the Endless (Death, Desire, Despair, Delirium, Destruction, and Destiny).
