Development As a film Attempts to adapt
The Sandman, an
American comic book written by
Neil Gaiman and published by
DC Comics from 1989 to 1996, had languished in
development hell since the 1990s. Gaiman was first asked about a film adaptation by
Warner Bros. executive
Lisa Henson in 1991, an offer to which he was apprehensive and subsequently declined. Development on a film adaptation began in 1996, with
Roger Avary attached to direct and
Ted Elliot and
Terry Rossio writing the script. Following this, Peters continued to develop his version of the film. William Farmer had written a screenplay for it by 1998, which Gaiman disliked and called it "not only the worst
Sandman script I've ever seen, but quite easily the worst script I've ever read." He had wanted to sabotage the adaptation and leaked the script to ''
Ain't It Cool News, resulting in the adaptation not going forward as Peters focused on Wild Wild West'' (1999) instead. After reading Farmer's script, Gaiman became doubtful that
The Sandman would be adapted into a film. At the 2007
San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC), he remarked that he would "rather see no
Sandman movie made than a bad
Sandman movie", but added that he "[felt] like the time for a
Sandman movie is coming soon. We need someone who has the same obsession with the source material as
Peter Jackson had with
Lord of the Rings or
Sam Raimi had with
Spider-Man." He said that he could see
Terry Gilliam directing the adaptation: "I would always give anything to Terry Gilliam, forever, so if Terry Gilliam ever wants to do
Sandman then as far as I'm concerned Terry Gilliam should do
Sandman." In 2013,
DC Entertainment president
Diane Nelson said that a
Sandman film was a project she considered a priority, considering the prospect as rich as the
Harry Potter universe.
David S. Goyer had pitched a
Sandman adaptation to Warner Bros. in 2013 and by February 2014 was set to produce the film alongside
Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Gaiman, with
Jack Thorne writing. Warner Bros. planned for Gordon-Levitt to star and possibly direct. The film was set to be produced by
New Line Cinema as part of a slate of films based on properties published under DC's
Vertigo imprint, separate from the
DC Extended Universe.
Eric Heisserer was hired to rewrite the film's script in March 2016; immediately afterwards, Gordon-Levitt departed due to disagreements with New Line Cinema over the creative direction of the film. The following November, Heisserer turned in his draft but departed, stating that the project should be an
HBO series instead of a film: "I ... came to the conclusion that the best version of this property exists as an HBO series or limited series, not as a feature film, not even as a trilogy. The structure of the feature film really doesn't mesh with this."
Transition to television Due to the prolonged development period of the film, in 2010 DC Entertainment shifted focus onto developing a television adaptation. Film director
James Mangold pitched a series concept to HBO while consulting with Gaiman on an unofficial basis, but it did not materialize due to a "political turf war at WB". By September 2010,
Warner Bros. Television was licensing the rights to produce a TV series, and that
Supernatural creator
Eric Kripke was their preferred candidate to adapt the saga. Gaiman later revealed that he disapproved of Kripke's take and rejected his pitch. Subsequently, Kripke said the project was not happening, but DC Comics' then-
Chief Creative Officer (CCO)
Geoff Johns revealed a series was still in development with the involvement of Gaiman. Around 2018, Gaiman was working on the television adaption of
Good Omens, based on the
novel of the same name he had written with
Terry Pratchett, when Goyer approached him again about a television adaption of
The Sandman. By that point, Goyer wrote several successful screenplays including those of
The Dark Knight trilogy. Goyer connected Gaiman to screenwriter
Allan Heinberg, a fan of Gaiman's work. Heinberg's contract with
ABC Studios was ending, allowing his agent to set up a meeting with Warner Bros. Eventually, Goyer had called him, requesting him to be involved. Heinberg later became the showrunner and executive producer. The three eventually met for dinner in
Los Angeles to discuss the series and began pitching it three days later, with Heinberg signing his contract with Warner Bros. beforehand. In June 2019,
Netflix signed a deal with Warner Bros. to produce the series and gave it an order of eleven episodes, The series was developed by Gaiman, Goyer, and
Allan Heinberg, who also serve as executive producers. Gaiman said he would be more involved than he was with
the 2017–2021 television adaptation of
American Gods (2001) but less than he was with
Good Omens.
Writing The creative team sought to faithfully adapt the source material, beginning with the first season adapting
Preludes & Nocturnes, ''
The Doll's House, and the first two issues of Dream Country''. Morpheus's speech bubbles in the comics are black with white letters, with the team opting to integrate the concept into the series. As such, Morpheus's dialogue was meticulously written, with Gaiman calling it the thing he was "most obsessive about", as he was constantly revising scripts to ensure that he was satisfied with it. Changes included expanding the role of
The Corinthian into being the
Big Bad for the first season, altering various characters and storylines, and removing references to other DC Comics characters such as
Martian Manhunter and
Mister Miracle. John Dee was not depicted as
Doctor Destiny, and
John Constantine was reimagined as a female character, Joanna Constantine. Gaiman opted to remove references to the DC Universe as the overall
Sandman series moved away from the initial ties with the DC Universe to avoid potential implications that the series would tie into other DC Comics adaptions in the future. The role of
Matthew was also expanded in the series for Morpheus to have someone with whom he can share his thoughts, which were depicted as thought bubbles in the comics and impractical to do in live-action. Upon rereading the comics, Gaiman felt he "in a weird way did all the work" as he thought the comics "had kind of been rather ahead of its time", with Heinberg adding, "The
Sandman comics were leagues ahead of everybody in the late '80s in terms of the depiction of women, race, sexuality and gender", while noting that changes were made for the series. Goyer, Heinberg, and Gaiman met at Gaiman's house to discuss the first season, where they came up with the story for the first episode in two days. They often discussed "Why is it essential that we tell the story of
The Sandman right now?", with Heinberg stating that the answer "has informed every creative decision we've made since:
The Sandman is an exploration of what it means to be human. To be mortal and therefore vulnerable. Capable of being hurt, but also capable of loving and being loved.
The Sandman is the story of an honorable, arrogant king who slowly—very slowly—learns how to love. How to be a loving friend, a loving brother, a loving father." Writing for a potential second season had already begun by August 2022. On January 31, 2025, it was announced that the second season would be the series's final season.
Casting Patton Oswalt, a longtime
Sandman fan, was the first actor to be cast; he was cast as the voice of
Matthew the Raven the day before
The Sandman was pitched to Netflix. In September 2020,
Tom Sturridge entered negotiations to portray Dream, after
screen testing alongside
Tom York and
Colin Morgan, while
Liam Hemsworth and
Dacre Montgomery were under consideration for the role of the
Corinthian. Gaiman had said he had watched over 1,500 casting auditions for Morpheus and felt Sturridge was right for the role after watching his audition tapes. According to
Boyd Holbrook, the casting process was long, recalling that he auditioned around January 2020 but did not receive any further information until September. In January 2021, Sturridge,
Gwendoline Christie, Vivienne Acheampong, Holbrook,
Charles Dance,
Asim Chaudhry, and
Sanjeev Bhaskar were announced to be starring in the series. Twelve more cast members were announced in May 2021:
Kirby,
Mason Alexander Park, Donna Preston,
Jenna Coleman,
Niamh Walsh,
Joely Richardson,
David Thewlis, Kyo Ra,
Stephen Fry,
Razane Jammal, Sandra James Young, and Oswalt. Park, who was also a fan of the source material, decided to contact Gaiman on
Twitter for their role as
Desire. Gaiman had sent their videos to Heinberg, who both agreed on casting Park. The second casting announcement was met with backlash from a section of the
Sandman fanbase, with some criticizing the casting of black actors as characters traditionally depicted as white in the comics, such as Howell-Baptiste as
Death. Mehrul Bari of
The Daily Star felt that while the backlash against the casting announcement was clearly "rooted in flagrant phobias", some of the casting choices seemed like "
stunt casting" that continued
tokenism in Netflix productions and comic book adaptations. In July 2024, it was reported that
Ruairi O'Connor,
Freddie Fox,
Clive Russell,
Laurence O'Fuarain,
Ann Skelly,
Douglas Booth,
Jack Gleeson,
Indya Moore, and
Steve Coogan were cast as Orpheus, Loki, Odin, Thor, Nuala, Cluracan, Puck, Wanda, and Barnabas separately for the second season.
Production design Costume designer Sarah Arthur worked closely with property master Gordon Fitzgerald to recreate items and costumes found in the graphic novel as accurately as possible. The Helmet of Dreams was designed by costumers to be four feet long and foldable, allowing it to be fitted inside a bag. Dream's ruby and bag of sand, like most items in the series, were created as physical objects and later enhanced by the visual effects team in post production. Lucifer's contrasting white and black costumes were designed by
Giles Deacon with input from Gwendoline Christie. The team researched androgynous figures, including
David Bowie, to intentionally convey Lucifer as an androgynous character. Wherever possible, the production team attempted to mimic the artwork from the source material, such as Lucienne's costume and glasses. For the set designs, the production team conducted research into various periods in history, particularly for the tavern scenes featuring Dream and Hob Gadling, which span several hundred years. The sets, costumes and props were redesigned for each century based on historical reference. To design the Palace of Dreaming, supervisor Ian Markiewicz took inspiration from the artwork of
Kris Kuksi. Markiewicz conceived the palace as a "dream mosaic". He was opposed to creating scenes using full
green screen stages, so most scenes were filmed on location and augmented, including Dream's throne room, which was represented by the interior of
Guildford Cathedral. The team used
St. Peter's Square as the inspiration for the design of the balcony and rear of Lucifer's Palace in reference to Lucifer as a fallen angel. Production designer Gary Steele created the set for the Threshold of Desire as a curved arch by carving foam blocks. For Episode 5, "24/7", Gaiman consulted with artist
Mike Dringenberg about the original diner design in the comic book. Dringenberg provided him with the setting and menu of a real
Salt Lake City diner, which was subsequently used in the show.
Filming The series was originally to begin filming towards the end of May 2020, but was delayed due to the
COVID-19 pandemic.
Principal photography began on October 15, 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, filming for the first season was limited to the United Kingdom. Holbrook began shooting his scenes in December 2020. Production for the first season was expected to last until June 2021. Filming for the first season took place in
Greater London,
Surrey,
Watford,
Poole, and
Sussex. As the production team was limited to filming in the United Kingdom, scenes set in
New York City were filmed at
Canary Wharf. Filming locations in Surrey included
Shepperton Studios and
Guildford Cathedral.
Hankley Common was chosen as the filming location for Hell. Other prominent filming locations included
Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden in
Watford,
Sandbanks beach located in
Poole and the town of
Petworth. Filming for the second season began on June 23, 2023, at Shepperton Studios, before it was suspended in July due to the
2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. On November 30, 2023, it was confirmed by Gaiman that production had resumed. Filming for the second season had wrapped by August 2024.
Post-production The comic series's cover artist,
Dave McKean, came out of retirement to design the end-credits sequences for each episode. Other companies involved in creating the 2,900 visual effects for the show included
Framestore,
Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), Important Looking Pirates, Rodeo FX, Union FX and Chicken Bone VFX. Framestore created the visuals for Matthew the Raven, which required an intricate feather system, puppets and live-action ravens to create realistic visuals. Rodeo FX produced visual concepts for Morpheus's palace that took inspiration from various world sculptures. The Rodeo FX team conceived the palace's fall into ruin as a representation of the collective consciousness and consequently the palace "reflected a broad cultural context". For the entrance to the Dreaming, the Gate of Horn was moulded by production designer Jon Gary Steele in the form of a small foot section that was used to augment a gate measuring 300 feet wide by 300 feet tall. The Undercroft in which Morpheus is imprisoned was built as a set with a moat, smoke, wind effects, flame bars and self-igniting candles. To create Lucifer's Palace, the VFX team was concerned about viewers' preconceived ideas of how it should appear and began by using
Google Images to research previous depictions. The final design used a combination of traditional architecture and photorealistic imagery from the comic book. == Music ==