The Sandman could run for five or seven years across multiple seasons, hints actor Boyd Holbrook. An adaptation of the popular comic series from DC Comics and Vertigo, The Sandman follows Dream the Endless in his quest to repair his fallen kingdom following his 70-year imprisonment by humans. The cast for the series was recently announced including Tom Sturridge as Dream, Gwendoline Christie taking on the role of Lucifer, and Boyd Holbrook as the nightmare Corinthian.
Attempts to adapt The Sandman have been ongoing for years, with the project laboring in development hell since the 1990s. A film adaptation for New Line Cinema directed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt almost materialized around 2013 but the film was stalled in 2016. The project eventually morphed into a series produced for Netflix with a first season episode count consisting of eleven episodes. Comic creator Neil Gaiman is signed on as an executive producer alongside David S. Goyer (Batman Begins) and Allan Heinberg (Wonder Woman). Heinberg, who also was also the showrunner on The Runaways, is the lead showrunner for the series. The comic series ran for 75 issues and the series could run on Netflix for multiple seasons if the contracts the actors have signed are any indication.
In an interview with Collider, Boyd Holbrook has confirmed that he has signed a long-term contract for the series for five to seven years. While the actor is unsure how long the series will last his comments hint that Netflix may have long-term plans for the series. Given the number of issues in the comic, a large episode count is expected to remain faithful to the series. Holbrook said:
“I think it’s a standard contract that’s like seven, five years whatever. We have talked about all that. I don’t know if it’ll all work out. I think it might work out in different blocks of time, but yeah you definitely want to have some sort of macro idea of how long something’s gonna last. But I don’t wanna give away the details of how long.”
While the contract may have the actors signed for five to seven years, that does not translate to the number of seasons the series may get. Netflix tends to keep a show for around two or three seasons before ending it, with a few notable exceptions. The years between series may also be a factor in the long-time frame for the contracts, given that Netflix series don’t always premiere a year apart like shows on a traditional network do. Stranger Things' second season aired in 2017 while the third season premiered in 2019, and The Witcher’s second season is expected to premiere sometime in 2021, almost two years from the December 2019 premiere of its first season.
The Sandman has been pitched as a faithful adaptation of the series, even going so far as choosing a different performer for Lucifer to align it with the world of the comics, but there are still some changes in the adaptation that fans can expect that may require the series to be condensed. Gaiman has confirmed that the first season will adapt the first two volumes of The Sandman. Major DC characters like John Constantine, Martian Manhunter, and The Scarecrow make appearances in the first few issues of Sandman, and while no performers have been cast these characters might be swapped out for other characters, omitted entirely, or may show up in roles that Netflix doesn't want to announce as part of the cast yet. These changes to the adaptation may allow for The Sandman to fit the long, sprawling series within the traditional Netflix three-season structure—or maybe the show will buck the trend and continue for even longer.
Source: Collider