Though it’s typically in bad taste to talk about one’s dreams (as they tend to be incomprehensible to other people), the latest casting news surrounding Audible’s adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman comic is worth poring over because from the sounds of things, the audio drama’s going to be something worth listening to.
Entertainment Weekly reports that James McAvoy has been cast as Morpheus, aka Dream of the Endless, one of the seven anthropomophised abstract concepts whose existence play a key role in the maintenance of reality in Gaiman’s original comic series. When a cult of humans obsessed with the arcane manage to tear Morpheus from the dimension of dreams where he’s all powerful and imprison him on Earth, it’s decades before he’s able to break free and kill his captors. But in Morpheus’ absence, his kingdom, and by extension the very concept of dreaming itself, is damaged so profoundly that he’s forced to embark upon a mission to make things right, both to restore his name, and to save the dreams of all things.
McAvoy’s set to be joined by Kat Dennings’ Death—another one of the Endless who’s typically depicted as being the one of Morpheus’ siblings that he truly gets along with—and Riz Ahmed as the Corinthian, a living nightmare of Dream’s making, who ends up turning on his creator. Taron Egerton will lend his voice to John Constantine (yes, that one), and Michael Sheen will voice Lucifer (also that one).
It’s astonishing. (And this is just the first three books.) So proud to be part of it. You can preorder at https://t.co/5Nsug0Ank3 #TheSandmanaudio @audible_com @DCComics @audibleuk @DirkMaggs pic.twitter.com/wPtrUTfeoP
— Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) May 13, 2020
What’s particularly interesting, though, is that Audible’s production appears to be going all in on bringing a slew of DC/Vertigo characters that you wouldn’t necessarily expect to pop up in an audio drama. There’s Justin Vivian Bond and Miriam Margolyes as twins Desire and Despair of the Endless, and Reginald D. Hunter as J’onn J’onzz. Additionally, Gaiman himself will appear as the narrator, Samantha Morton will voice Urania Blackwell, Bebe Neuwirth will voice the Siamese Cat, and Andy Serkis will voice Matthew the Raven.
Given how Netflix’s take on The Sandman has effectively been put on hold due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, Audible’s stab at the story’s going to have to be the fairytale that puts you to sleep (in a good way), when part 1 drops on July 16.