Neil Gaiman's Sandman will be a Netflix series. This is my favourite comic series so I'm looking forward to seeing it. It could be great success or a massive failure. At least as a series it has potential. Another "unfilmable" comic, Preacher has proved what can be done right, starting with not underestimating the audience. Legion has shown surrealism can be done as well. And it will be big budget which bodes well. 'Sandman' TV Series From Neil Gaiman, David Goyer — With Huge Price Tag — a Go at Netflix
Preacher certainly didn't underestimate the audience for what was shown in the series, but assuredly they did by not sticking as close to the source material as they could have/should have, thus cancellation after Season 4. It's difficult to adapt a comic for television or the silver screen. The only one that I think really succeeded was "unfilmable" Watchmen. They really pulled it off, with no large enough leaps from the comic to screw up the message, the meaning, and especially the characters. Ironic, isn't it? I'm eagerly awaiting Sandman, Y: The Last Man, and The Boys. One would think it would be difficult to screw up the latter two, but Sandman is pretty complex, like Preacher. One false move, early, and it could go down the crapper.
I love the comic. Willing to give the show a chance. I hope there's room to detour into the Barbie/Cuckoo storyline, my personal favorite.
Watchmen, Preacher, Sandman, American Gods, Fables....series like these are the creme de la creme, incredibly dense, complex, and well-written. And as wild and crazy as the stories may get, it's historic work. While I totally agree that Watchmen's the ONLY one (so far) that was done properly, the truth is that even it had to alter the ending and completely omit a major story line. These books ain't easy!
I was impressed by how well the Preacher series preserved the character of the comic. Haven't dared dip my toe into American Gods yet. Sandman? OH, so many missteps to blunder into...hey, whaddya say, let's just schlep it over to Freeform instead, right? Bet Dave Sim is jabbing his fork into his leg, just thinking about how he could have gotten Cerebus in on the ground floor with DisneyPlus, huh...? (just think if they made it anywhere up to Rick's Story)...
Oh, and, I don't see any hope of Fables happening as a video franchise, any more than, say. Books of Magic...? ("Harry Hunter and the Copyright Lawers of Rowling")
Would love a high budget, high quality animated Sandman series, something really stylized and surreal. Live action...I’m not so jazzed about.
Some more recent news: Tom Sturridge will play Dream. I'm not familiar with him but he was in Far From the Madding Crowd and Velvet Buzzsaw. And this article has some info on which stories will be covered. It will be interesting to see how they handle them! Spoilers there. No release date but late 2021 or early 2022 expected. 'The Sandman': Neil Gaiman Teases Season 1 Storylines, DC Superhero Appearances in Netflix Series
The first incarnations of some of the major characters were modeled after celebrities, Morpheus after Peter Murphy, Desire after the "Rio" cover girl, and Lucifer after Bowie.
I believe that's an audio only recording of the series. Perhaps they didn't get to Delirium storylines.