Netflix's 'Sandman' cast revealed
Netflix's The Sandman has announced the first wave of actors making up the show's main band of characters
Based on the award-winning comic books written by Neil Gaiman, Netflix's The Sandman has announced the first wave of actors making up the show's main band of characters. The formal press release confirmed some long-rumored casting choices, such as Tom Sturridge playing the titular Sandman.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Tom Sturridge will topline the drama based on Gaiman's DC Comics series, playing Dream, the Lord of the Dreaming. Gwendoline Christie co-stars as Lucifer, Ruller of Hell. Vivienne Acheampong, Boyd Holbrook, Charles Dance, Asim Chaudhry and Sanjeev Bhaskar round out the dark fantasy drama.
Sturridge (Starz's Sweetbitter) takes on a role that was briefly attached to Joseph Gordon-Levitt when Sandman was being developed as a feature film for New Line in early 2016. With Christie and Dance, Sandman is also staging a mini-Game of Thrones reunion for the duo. Dance will portray Roderick Burgess, a charlatan, blackmailer and magician.
Acheampong (The Witches) plays Lucienne, the chief librarian and trusted guardian of Dream's realm. Holbrook (Narcos) is set as The Corinthian, an escaped nightmare who wishes to taste all that the world has in store. Chaudhry (Black Mirror: Bandersnatch) and Bhaskar (Yesterday) take on the roles of Abel and Cain, the first victim and the first predator, who are residents and loyal subjects of the Dream Realm.
Gaiman (American Gods) and Allan Heinberg (Wonder Woman, Grey's Anatomy) are co-writing the series, with the latter on board as showrunner. David S. Goyer (Batman Begins, Foundation) exec produces the drama from Warner Bros. Television.
Originally running across 76 issues, The Sandman has a well-deserved reputation as one of the greatest graphic novel series of all time. The book won 26 individual Eisner Awards, with three of those being for Best Continuing Series. There have been several attempts to adapt it for television and film in the past, but none of them proved productive until Netflix acquired the license and the support of Neil Gaiman himself.