The budget for Netflix's adaptation of The Sandman is reportedly revealed, teasing a mammoth production to bring Neil Gaiman's comics to life. Tom Sturridge leads the cast of the DC Comics adaptation as Morpheus, also known as Dream, one of the seven immortal beings known as the Endless who is captured in an occult ritual in 1916. When he's finally released after 105 years of captivity, Morpheus embarks on a journey to help restore his once-powerful kingdom of the Dreaming, which has floundered in his absence.
Alongside Sturridge, the cast for The Sandman includes Gwendoline Christie, Vivienne Acheampong, Boyd Holbrook, Charles Dance, Asim Chaudhry, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Mason Alexander Park, Jenna Coleman, David Thewlis and Joely Richardson. Gaiman has helped develop the series with executive producers David S. Goyer and Allan Heinberg for Netflix, with the streaming service having acquired the rights to the long-gestating adaptation. With the world of The Sandman being a deeply fantastical and wide-spanning creation, one would hope the streamer wouldn't hold back in funding the project, and it appears they have avoided this issue.
While audiences continue to await word on when the series will arrive, Deadline has brought word of The Sandman's mammoth production budget. In an excerpt from Dade Hayes and Dawn Chmielewski's Binge Times book, the two reflect on the heated bidding war that ensued for Gaiman's graphic novels, which included both Netflix and Hulu. When discussing the latter winning out in a "pricey deal" with Warner Bros. TV, it was revealed that The Sandman is costing $15 million per episode.
Fans of The Sandman comics are sure to find some comfort in the show's mammoth budget at Netflix given Gaiman's grandiose worldbuilding in the source material. Gaiman himself has expressed his excitement for the level of detail the production has brought to bringing The Sandman comics to life for the series, with a behind-the-scenes video seeing the co-creator walk through some of the sets and viewing the concept art for the adaptation and praising the work thus far. With David S. Goyer having also teased the show will tackle some of the comics' toughest stories in "genre-bending" episodes, a minimum budget of $15 million per episode is sure to prove effective for the series.
There is, however some concern to be had from The Sandman's mammoth production budget. Netflix similarly injected a large amount of money into adapting beloved anime Cowboy Bebop into live-action, only to cancel it after one season following a dip in ratings post-release, and currently spending a lot to further expand its Witcher franchise, all while it continues to see stocks dip and subscriber loss amidst a variety of policy changes. Only time will tell whether The Sandman's mammoth production budget works in its favor or against it when it premieres on Netflix later this year.
Source: Deadline