Earlier this week, fans of Neil Gaiman's Sandman comics gave a collective sigh of relief at Eric Kripke's statement that development on the projected TV series was not going forward. Now though, DC Comics' Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns has provided a GLaDOS-like tweet to indicate that the TV Sandman is Still Alive after all.
"Correction to world," says Johns. "The Sandman is awake! Psyched to be working with Neil on developing one of the greatest series ever!"
Which is rather different from Kripke's "Unfortunately, for a lot of varying reasons, Sandman is not in the works," although he did qualify that with "at least for this season."
The series is on the books at Warner Brothers, DC's sister company, and Kripke, the creator of Supernatural, had been the studio's top choice to bring Gaiman's saga to life. The author's one-line synopsis of the comic's 75 issues is "The lord of dreams learns that one must change or die, and makes his decision," but there's obviously a lot more to it than that, with the Vertigo series taking in pantheons and mythologies from across the globe, via threads about fantastical quests, serial killers and road trips, in following the progress of Morpheus (aka Dream of the Endless), who's only recently been released from a seventy-year imprisonment at the hands of a Crowley-like sorceror.
That doesn't really describe it either. There's nothing really very much like Sandman, which is why it's a peculiar and difficult prospect for any sort of adaptation (although if it works it could be something extraordinary).
Happily, as indicated by Johns, Gaiman himself is at least involved on some level. Kripke, a big fan of the author (he says Supernatural is Sandman crossed with Gaiman's novel American Gods) "just loved my conversations with him," while Johns says "Sandman in any form - comics to live action - doesn't work without Neil."
Is development continuing without Kripke? Are Warners looking for a new show-runner? Let us know your thoughts on who might have the right sensibility in the comments below. We'll bring you more news as it emerges...