That will not last. The Great Stories will always return to their original forms.

It’s one of the most enduring quotes from the Sandman’s 75-issue run. Talking to the immortal Hob Gadling in the 18^th century, Dream, the eponymous Sandman, comments on the transience of a new ending attached to Shakespeare’s King Lear written centuries past. It’s a testament to the endurance of stories despite the ravages of time.

In an age dominated by adaptations, The Sandman’s quote rings ever truer. The past few years have seen countless adapted titles dropped because of lackluster reception. The original forms, whether it be books or series made years past, have won time and time again. However, despite history weighing down against it, one adaptation has seemingly prevailed against Dream’s cautionary warning: The Sandman itself.

Enter the Dreaming

Premiering on Netflix, The Sandman adapts the first few story arcs from the original comic book run. The series stars Tom Sturridge as the titular character, complemented by a lively cast from television’s finest including Doctor Who’s Jenna Coleman as Johanna Constantine and Game of Thrones’ Gwendoline Christie as Lucifer. Plus, most critically, Neil Gaiman himself, the series’ author, is directly involved with the series, along with David S. Goyer.

The series itself is a long time coming. Since the original run ended, filmmakers and producers have sought to adapt the title for Hollywood. However, for all of 30 years, Gaiman rejected all efforts to create a Hollywood-friendly version of the popular series. Now, fresh from the success of the adaptations of American Gods and Good Omens, the acclaimed author is taking the reins himself to create the first good adaptation of Sandman. And why not? The title’s tales of inclusivity, responsibility, and story-making still ring true today.

A dream of me: a personal history

When I first read The Sandman, I was in high school. My sensibilities and interests were naturally different from what they are today. They were hardly mature enough to understand the intricacies of the series. In fact, my young mind was more interested in how Dream was an all-powerful protagonist capable of blowing his enemies away in a literal puff of sand. For me, Sandman was no different from Superman. Can you blame me? I was a teenager, after all.

While it’s fair to read the series in that way, The Sandman was so much more. More than a decade later, I reread the entire series, picking up hundreds of tidbits I missed my first go-around. I learned about the power of dreams on our reality and how dreams pervade regardless of culture or identity.

Now, if you’ve read The Sandman at any point in your life, you’ll understand how the series endured all these years as an essential fragment of the world’s literary oeuvre. If you haven’t read the series, however, you’ll still understand how things we’ve read or watched as children rarely look the same when we reread or rewatch them as adults.

The Sandman, as both a comic book and a television series, is no different.

A dream of change

A traditional comic book has around 20 to 30 pages from cover to cover. While the number is usually enough to tell a captivating story, it does have limitations. Stories and themes have to be summarized into small speech bubbles or boxes. In contrast, a television episode allows for more nuances: an actor’s expressions, additional dialogue, movement.

While the Netflix series maintains fidelity in adapting its source material, it also expands what was presented on the page. Instead of a static image of Dream brooding in captivity, you see the evolution of emotion from stoicism, hatred, to hope.

Further, you’ll see the evolution of Gaiman from an early-career author to an acclaimed one revisiting past works. When the series was first written, Neil Gaiman was a relatively fresh creator. As such, he was still exploring his literary voice. The early Sandman books reflect that, seesawing between different genres and tones. Now, decades after first writing the series, Gaiman has an opportunity to change and expand what he wrote before. The end result is magical.

For one, characters were made to be more inclusive. Instead of white men or women, iconic characters are played by characters who are Black, female, or both. For example, Kirby Howell-Baptiste and Gwendoline Christie slay as Death and Lucifer, respectively. Likewise, otherwise-detached stories are connected and expanded in new ways that make sense in the over-arching plot. It’s a change in fidelity, but one that is welcome in today’s ever-changing world. It expands Gaiman’s vision for a more inclusive reality in and out of dreams.

Netflix’s The Sandman is an evolution of both the book’s format and its themes. It pulls double duty, alluring both long-time readers and new visitors to the land of dreams. As such, you’ll find both readings — as a fantastical adventure and as a thematic exploration of humanity — in the television series.

Though Dream said that great stories will always return to their original forms, it’s time to evaluate what The Sandman’s original form is. Maybe this is what it was always meant to be. Maybe “original” doesn’t always mean the first one.

Should you watch The Sandman?

Absolutely.

If you’ve read the series before, you already know why. If not, The Sandman is a dark fantasy series. In essence, it’s a collection of stories spanning decades and centuries, loosely connected by the character called Dream and our own smaller dreams — to live forever, to be recognized for who we are, to be free, to just be. Just as the comic book had me turning the page endlessly, the Netflix series will have you clicking that Next Episode button until you reach the end.

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