The previously announced Audible adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman announced its almost too-good-to-be-true cast, headed up with James McAvoy as Dream, and rounded out with Riz Ahmed, Justin Vivian Bond, Arthur Darvill, Kat Dennings, Taron Egerton, William Hope, Samantha Morton, Bebe Neuwirth, Andy Serkis, and Michael Sheen as Lucifer.
Gaiman himself narrates the project, which will hit Amazon’s Audible exclusively on July 15, 2020 with the first of a multi-part audio drama. This pilot will follow the plot of volumes 1-3 of the series, including Preludes & Nocturnes, The Doll’s House, and Dream Country. In the Audible and DC PR, no mention is made of series artists Sam Kieth, Mike Dringenberg, Malcom Jones III, Robbie Busch, Dave McKean, or letterer Todd Klein.
Dirk Maggs, as well as acting as EP, adapts and directs The Sandman audio adaptation. He’s a longtime collaborator of Gaiman’s, as he’s previously adapted audio versions of Neverwhere, Stardust, Good Omens and Anansi Boys. And, if that’s not enough, Audible’s Sandman will also feature an original score from Academy Award-winning composer James Hannigan, who’s worked on everything from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, to the MMORPG Runescape, and Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.
Here’s the show’s official synopsis:
When an occultist attempts to capture the physical embodiment of Death (Dennings) in a bargain for eternal life, he instead mistakenly traps Death’s younger brother Dream (McAvoy), another of the seven god-like siblings known as The Endless who oversee aspects of human existence, including Desire (Bond) and Despair (Margolyes), Destiny, Destruction and Delirium. After seventy years of imprisonment Dream finally escapes, embarking on a quest to reclaim his lost objects of power and rebuild his kingdom, the world of sleep and imagination called The Dreaming. So begins one of the most acclaimed and successful series of graphic novels ever written.
You can pre-order The Sandman now in English, while French, German, Italian, Castilian Spanish and Latin American Spanish versions will follow.
I think this audio adaptation of a comic book/graphic novel series is disrespectful to the artists who drew it, and on a whole this is extremely f’ed up. Real shame on Neil Gaiman, who has profited off of remaking his creations for maybe the last ten years. He’s basically a hipster’s Walt Disney Company these days. I’m gonna pass, and I think you should too.
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