Geoff Johns Says ‘Sandman’ TV Series Is Still Happening
By Culturesmash
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Wednesday, March 16th, 2011 at 11:10 am
Sandman is one of those comic book series that has been in development Hell for years. Back September it was reported that a television series was finally set to happen on CW with Supernatural creator Eric Kripke set to produce the show.
Earlier this week, Kripke said (via THR) that the series is on hold at least for this season: “Unfortunately, for a lot of varying reasons, Sandman is not in the works, at least for this season,” He continued from the red carpet prior to the Supernatural panel at PaleyFest Sunday, “just didn’t quite happen this season through nobody’s fault, and hopefully we can do it again in the future.” You’d think these comments would have put the nail in Sandman‘s coffin right?
Just when things looked their darkest, comic book maestro Geoff Johns posted some statments on Twitter that go completely against Kripke’s comments. He reassures fans that he and Sandman creator Neil Gaiman are in fact moving forward on the Sandman television series.
Correction to world: The Sandman is AWAKE! :) Psyched to be working with @neilhimself on developing one of the greatest series ever!”
Johns also made one comment that will definitely reassure fans of the comic book series.
“Sandman in any form – comics to live action – doesn’t work without @neilhimself.”
Sandman is definitely a tough story to tell outside of its original medium, but Geoff Johns working with the original creator of the comics seems to give the show good bones. Now if only Eric Kripke, a showrunner very familiar with running a “supernatural” series was in the loop all of the elements would be in place. The story of Sandman follows Morpheus, a deity that personifies dreams as he searches for his missing items of power. Things go awry when humans who mistake him for his sister, Death, capture him.
While the team of Johns and Gaiman are formidable, I’m inclined to believe that Kripke is keyed in to the inner workings of the CW. So the truth may be that the show won’t happen this season, but it’s still being worked on. The question is do you really want to see Sandman on CW? Will it look like Gossip Girl with a little Death thrown in? You know, sort of like Vampire Diaries? Is that what you want?
Sandman adaptations have been in the talks for years, and although the good thing about television as a medium is that it’s more episodic and can lend itself to things like more character development, sustaining interesting storylines and exploring them fully, etc, rather than a 90-minute action movie that sucks all the soul and poetry out of a project like this and ruins the meaning, it’ll be immensely disappointing if the adaptation includes a vision that doesn’t jive with the original tone of the comics. It’s great that Neil is involved, because without him, any sort of adaptation would just not work, but I’m still a bit iffy on embracing the idea.
Students of the Unusual™ comic cover used with permission of 3BoysProductions
The Mercuri Bros.™ comic cover used with permission of Prodigal Son Press
Sandman adaptations have been in the talks for years, and although the good thing about television as a medium is that it’s more episodic and can lend itself to things like more character development, sustaining interesting storylines and exploring them fully, etc, rather than a 90-minute action movie that sucks all the soul and poetry out of a project like this and ruins the meaning, it’ll be immensely disappointing if the adaptation includes a vision that doesn’t jive with the original tone of the comics. It’s great that Neil is involved, because without him, any sort of adaptation would just not work, but I’m still a bit iffy on embracing the idea.
Comment by Darkeva — March 16, 2011 @ 4:09 pm
The CW has Supernatural and it’s good. So I have a hope.
Comment by mrgroonk — March 16, 2011 @ 6:33 pm