Various movie adaptions of Neil Gaiman’s highly-acclaimed and much-beloved Sandman comic series have ended up stuck in development hell over the years – much to the relief of the fans.
Now, however, a new challenger emerges: TV. The Hollywood Reporter said Wednesday that Warner Bros. is looking to get the rights for the series from DC Entertainment, and Supernatural creator Eric Kripke is their first choice to helm it. Neil Gaiman is not (yet?) involved.
As a fan of Sandman, I’ve never really wanted it on screen: The story works wonderfully as a comic, and I can’t see how doing it otherwise would any favors. (With all apologies to Dark Horse and their Star Wars folks, it was Sandman that finally showed me of the heights the format was capable of.)
I can’t pretend to be an expert on Kripke, but his name does not exactly install faith in the project: I’ve never been able to make it through an entire episode of Supernatural, and little I’ve heard about the series makes me want to keep trying.
If Gaiman gets on board, I would be a little less OH HELL NO about the very idea. But for now? Here’s hoping for another round of development hell.
One way or another, now is a good time to check the series out if you haven’t already. The first volume is a tad shaky, as all newborn comics are, but things start shaping up with the second.
Supernatural and Eric Kripke have quite a lot of loyal fans wich includes me.
Supernatural has a large fandom? I HAD NO IDEA.
Okay, seriously: I’d be wary of anyone taking this project on, even if it was someone whose shows I have enjoyed.
But again, I’ve never been able to get into Supernatural: At the very best it came across like a bargain basement X-Files to me. But to each their own.
I’m not sure that I’d worry just yet. If I’m not remembering incorrectly, Gaiman can drag his feet when it comes to getting on-board with things like this. Odds are that he’s content to sit in the background for now until things develop further.
As for Kripke, I wouldn’t worry too much about that either. There’s never been an opportunity to really find out one way or another, but from interviews he’s done and comments that he’s made it seems like he’s the kind of guy who isn’t married to a single artistic direction. Supernatural may be jokey and work in a more concrete realm of “this is this and that is that,” but if he’s serious about the idea of doing Sandman and is capable of shifting gears to that more dream like narrative style then I can’t imagine him not doing it.
I’d be more worried about the network than the producer. Part of Sandman’s appeal is its meld of the literary and the grotesque… if it ends up on, say, the CW, I doubt it would be either.