After 33 years, The Sandman finally hit screens this Friday, with Netflix’s much-anticipated adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s seminal comic book saga debuting its first — of many, we hope — season. The show’s universe is a huge, sprawling mythos, though, so newbies to this corner of the DC world may wish to do some prep before jumping into the show. Well, luckily for those people, Dream of the Endless himself has you covered.
Netflix has shared a fun new promo for the series in which the one and only Lord Morpheus aka Tom Sturridge manages to squeeze a synopsis of season one into 60 seconds flat. As The Sandman is far from your typical comic book show — it’s not a “hero punches villain until the world is saved” kind of tale — there’s a lot to cover, but the British actor proves why he was cast as the Prince of Stories by recapping the whole journey with aplomb. Catch the promo below:
Making a surprise cameo at the end of the video is none other than Game of Thrones icon Gwendoline Christie, who plays Lucifer Morningstar in the series. Sturridge references a few of the show’s other notable cast-members in his recap, including fellow GoT vet Charles Dance as Roderick Burgess, Jenna Coleman as Johanna Constantine, and David Thewlis as John Dee. Not to mention Boyd Holbrook as the terrifying rogue nightmare The Corinthian.
Thankfully, after literally decades of hype, The Sandman is proving not to disappoint as audiences are loving it. Fingers crossed the viewing figures match the social media excitement and Netflix is impressed enough to greenlight a second run. With this inaugural season adapting the first two graphic novels out of a collection of 10, there’s enough material to keep the series going until season five.
Now you’ve had some prep, go watch all 10 episodes of The Sandman season one on Netflix now.