American Gods Producer Wants To Make A Sandman TV Show

Author Neil Gaiman wants Bryan Fuller, the producer who is bringing his American Gods novel to Starz, to adapt The Sandman comic book series to television next.

“I’m hoping that the success of American Gods will show Time Warner that maybe something as huge and shapeless and strange as Sandman would be best suited to television,” Gaiman tells Yahoo TV.

Fuller was quick to say he’d be up for it. “Those comics are so filled with so much story, and so much humanity and such visual candy — try to stop us if we have half the opportunity,” he said.

The early buzz for American Gods has been positive and Starz renewed the show for a second season before the premiere. Gaiman is hoping that will convince Warner Bros. to bring The Sandman to television.

“For a long time, I’ve been saying with a movie, you’ll have to throw so many things out,” Gaiman tells The Hollywood Reporter. “Why not take all the things that make [it difficult to adapt], take all the bugs in Sandman, and make them features. The fact that you have 75 issues, plus a whole bunch of stories? You have 80 episodes. That’s a good thing! The fact that you have adult themes and adult things? That’s now a good thing. It will be very strange to take Sandman to TV, but I really do think it’s the most important thing we could do. And I hope if American Gods goes big? Between that and Lucifer, that could help.”

As for Warner Bros.’s inability to get a Sandman movie off of the ground, Gaiman seems understanding about the struggle.

“The trouble with Warners and I don’t blame them for it, is they know that Sandman is one of the jewels in their crown – and they know that with the jewels in your crown, you make movies out of them,” he says. “And they know they have Batman. ‘We know what we have in Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and Sandman. We just can’t crack Sandman.’ You can’t crack it because it’s too big!”

The Sandman was Gaiman’s 75-issue comic book series that began publications DC Comics before eventually leading to the creation of DC’s Vertigo Comics imprint. The series follows Morpheus, also known as Dream of the Endless. He and his siblings in the Endless are personifications of abstract concepts. Through the course of The Sandman, Dream is forced to reconsider how he operates as a part of the grander order of things.

American Gods premiers Sunday, April 30 on Starz.

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