After going through various stages of development hell over the past 20 years, a screen adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s seminal comic book series The Sandman is finally on the way. Netflix has stepped in to make the DC TV show, something that fans have been wanting to see for decades, but of course, Gaiman’s Sandman-verse has already been mined before by the streaming service, as Lucifer is based off the version of the Devil from those comics.
The Sandman will be unconnected to the former FOX series, however, and will feature a different interpretation of Lucifer Morningstar, and We Got This Covered is hearing from our sources – who’ve given us previous DC scoops like Viola Davis would return for The Suicide Squad and Kevin Conroy was playing Kingdom Come Batman in “Crisis” – that Good Omens star Michael Sheen is one actor that’s being eyed for the part. Sheen’s potential involvement in the project isn’t a surprise, either, considering his close friendship with Gaiman means that he often stars in the celebrated writer’s productions. Landing the part of Satan would also be a fun inversion of his Good Omens role – the angel Aziraphale.
The really interesting thing about what we’re hearing, though, is that The Sandman‘s Lucifer will go on to appear in the DCEU. According to our sources – the same ones who said a Green Lantern show was coming to HBO Max – Netflix’s series will essentially be part of the cinematic franchise, though we shouldn’t expect there to be any real connectivity (think how the various Defenders shows on Netflix were technically part of the MCU, but didn’t have much that connected them to the movies). That being said, there are plans to bring some of its characters into the DCEU later down the line and that includes Lucifer.
We don’t know where in the DCEU Warner Bros. wants to use Lucifer just yet, but we are aware that they have big plans for John Constantine, too, so clearly they want to dive into the supernatural/horror side of the DC universe in the coming years. Whoever lands the part of Lucifer, then, could have a big future in the franchise.
For now, though, what we can tell you with absolute certainty is that Wonder Woman‘s Allan Heinberg is the showrunner for The Sandman, with Gaiman and David S. Goyer serving as exec producers. No word as yet on who will play the title character or a production star/release date, but we’ll let you know as soon as we learn more.
