James McAvoy will return as Morpheus in a new story based on Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman from DC and Audible. The cast will include familiar faces including Jeffrey Wright and Regé-Jean Page, and it’s set to release on September 22. Like the first installment, it will be directed by Dirk Maggs, and in anticipation of Act II’s release, Audible is making The Sandman‘s first act a free download. The pickup was originally announced back in January, when Amazon revealed that Audible would make at least two more Sandman acts, likely coming out annually. There is no official word yet on the casting or release date of the third volume.
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The ensemble cast will be led by James McAvoy in the title role of Dream, with Kat Dennings, Michael Sheen, and Andy Serkis reprising their respective roles. Jeffrey Wright, Regé-Jean Page, Brian Cox, Emma Corrin, John Lithgow, David Tennant, Bill Nighy, Kristen Schaal, Kevin Smith, Aidan Turner, Bebe Neuwirth, Adrian Lester, Miriam Margolyes, Arthur Darvill, Ray Porter and an expansive list of additional cast are set to join them. The original score is again provided by the BAFTA award-winning composer, James Hannigan.
This second installment follows hot on the heels of the wildly successful first in the multi-part original audio drama series, The Sandman, which was released on July 15, 2020 to record breaking pre-orders. It also holds the distinction of being the best-selling Audible Original in the company’s history and occupied the #1 spot on The New York Times Best Seller Audio Fiction list in July 2020 and August 2020. The Sandman: Act II will adapt Volume Four: Season of Mists, and Volume Five: A Game of You, as well as the Distant Mirrors quartet and Convergence trio from Volume Six: Fables & Reflections, of the graphic novel series.
There are a lot of geek favorites on that list, but certainly Kevin Smith’s name sticks out, considering that today is the day his new Netflix series Masters of the Universe: Revelation drops. Netflix is the streaming network behind the planned TV adaptation of The Sandman, which is reportedly in production now. Gaiman serves as the executive producer on both versions of the property, and as the narrator on the audio drama.
The Sandman, by Gaiman with numerous artists including Sam Kieth, Dave McKean, and Colleen Doran, ran from 1989 until 1996, and has had periodic one-shots and miniseries picking up the stories since then. For years, the characters remained largely out of circulation, until in 2018 DC announced that Gaiman would be overseeing a line of books taking place in the Sandman Universe and written by various writers and artists.
