Netflix’s Sandman adaptation of the epic DC comic series, from writer Neil Gaiman, has been in development for some time now. Today, DC announced a few more cast members of the upcoming series.
Joining Tom Sturridge as Lord Morpheus/Dream and Gwendoline Christie (Game of Thrones, Star Wars) as the Lord of Hell, Lucifer, are a dozen amazing actors in what is shaping up to be quite the “dream” cast. Kirby Howell-Baptiste (The Good Place, Barry) joins the cast as Death of the Endless and Dream’s older sister. Two other of the Endless, the twins Desire and Despair, will be played by Mason Alexander Park (Gren in the upcoming Cowboy Bepop series) and Donna Preston (The Hitman’s Bodyguard), respectively. Razane Jammal (Paranormal) is featured as the former Infinity, Inc member Lyta Hall. Her husband, and son of the Golden Age Hawkman and Hawkwoman, Hector Hall, has not been officially announced, yet.
Meet the cast of @netflix’s The Sandman ⏳ From the mind of @neilhimself. pic.twitter.com/Tow8ouf6UD
— DC (@DCComics) May 26, 2021
The other newly announced cast members are Joely Richardson as the older version of Ethel Cribbs, and Niamh Walsh as her younger version from the past. David Thewlis will play John Dee, better known as the DC comic villain Dr. Destiny. Sandra James Young will play Unity Kincaid, the woman who slept through the better part of the 20th Century. Kyo Ra plays Rose Walker, her granddaughter. Jenna Coleman (Doctor Who) will play Lady Johanna Constantine. Rounding out the cast are Dreaming denizens Matthew the Raven, voiced by comic and uber-nerd Patton Oswald, and Stephen Fry as Gilbert a/k/a Fiddler’s Green, a sentient dream that occasionally takes human form.
The addition of Coleman’s Lady Johanna begs who will be playing John Constantine. Taron Egerton has been rumored for the role. It is possible that since the character has been featured in CW’s DC shows, has a possible HBO Max series, and may be seen in a sequel to the 2005 Keanu Reeves Constantine film, that WB may remove the character. Something they have been known to do.
They join the already announced cast of Vivienne Acheampong who plays Lucienne, the chief librarian of Dream’s realm, and Charles Dance (Game of Thrones), who plays Roderick Burgess, the man who traps Dream while trying to conquer Death. Sanjeev Bhaskar and Asim Chaudhry round out the cast as the brothers Cain and Abel, the first murderer and victim who both live in the Dreaming, in the Houses of Mystery and Secrets, respectively.
It was a surprise that Netflix and not HBO got the rights to The Sandman back in June 2019. At the time, Warner Bros. thought it would be the most expensive series DC Entertainment would undertake. (That now looks like the HBO Max Green Lantern series will take that title.) Warner Brothers was nervous about taking on that expense, on top of the projects they already had in the works.
Are you excited about the upcoming Sandman series?
