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Neil Gaiman says that he long hoped to turn The Sandman into a serialized audio drama, and made multiple attempts to do so, dating back to 1992.
Audible’s The Sandman audio drama was a project nearly three decades in the making, series creator Neil Gaiman pointed out during a New York Comic Con 2021 panel.
“I mean I just feel incredibly lucky,” Gaiman said, before praising Dirk Maggs, who adapted and directed the series. “I feel lucky because Dirk and I have been trying to get Sandman made as an audio, as serialized audio, since 1992, and failing. And we tried again in around 2012, 2013, 2014 — failed again. And the fact that we’re now in a world in which Audible can actually step up to the plate, can give us something that we don’t have to change. You know, I finally got to make the audiobook versions of graphic novels. How weird and wonderful is that?”
While audiobooks might not be the most common format for comic adaptations in 2021, Gaiman added that the two mediums share a “logical,” rich history. He cited the old radio adaptation of Superman, which ran from 1940 to 1951 and introduced a number of concepts that were later implemented into the Superman comic books — including Kryptonite and the supporting cast of Daily Planet employees Perry White and Jimmy Olsen.
“Comics and audio have been a thing since the 1940s, since the late ’30s,” Gaiman said. “You know, Superman got Kryptonite from the radio, and I’m pretty sure Jimmy Olsen was a radio creation to be fed back, I think. So there’s just this level on which we’re doing this thing…whose time has come, and we don’t have to change it, we don’t have to edit it, we don’t have to fix it.”
Gaiman went on to praise the show’s impressive cast, calling actor James McAvoy “the best Morpheus I could possibly hope for.” Aside from McAvoy as the Lord of the Dreaming, the show also stars other big names, including Taron Egerton as John Constantine, Kat Dennings as Death and Andy Serkis as Matthew the Raven.
“We get to make these things happen in a way that is astonishing,” Gaiman said. “So, that for me is the glory of this thing. It’s what I want to do. We’re going to take you into the world, you’re going to hear amazing acting, you’re going to be in a soundscape — we’re going to make a movie in your head.”
The Sandman: Act I and The Sandman: Act II are both currently available on Audible, covering the first five volumes of the original comic series, along with portions of volume six. Aside from the audio drama, The Sandman is also set to be adapted into a Netflix series, executive produced and co-written by Gaiman and David S. Goyer, the screenwriter for Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy. The series has yet to receive a premiere date.
Source: New York Comic Con
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