Interview: Ferdinand Kingsley Talks About Playing Hob Gadling in Netflix’s The Sandman
Based on Neil Gaiman’s DC comics series, Netflix’s The Sandman explores a place called the Dreaming, where The Sandman (a.k.a Dream) brings his subject’s deepest fears and fantasies to visualization. After his impromptu disappearance, Dream must right some wrongs, and revisit his friends and enemies. Developed and executive produced by Gaiman, showrunner Allan Heinberg, and David S. Goyer, the fantasy series unfolds over ten chapters, and features an all-star cast including Tom Sturridge, Boyd Holbrook, Patton Oswalt, Vivienne Acheampong, Gwendoline Christie, Charles Dance, Jenna Coleman, David Thewlis, Stephen Fry, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, and more.
Game Rant had the opportunity to chat with Ferdinand Kingsley, best known for playing Irving Thalberg in Mank, Neville Catchlove in a 2017 episode of Doctor Who, and Mr. Francatelli in the British historical drama Victoria. In the Netflix series, Kingsley steps into the role of Hob Gadling—a problematic, yet crucial character—which he landed after initially auditioning to play Dream. In our interview, we spoke about his relationship with The Sandman comics, his audition process, and Hob's journey throughout the series.
Related: The Sandman Review
But first, a quick character breakdown: Dream and Hob meet in the 14th century at a pub. Dream, who is visiting with Death, overhears Hob talking wistfully about eternal life—something which Dream cannot fathom. As an experiment, Dream decides to grant Hob immortality, under the guise that he'll tap out after 100 years or so. The two meet every 100 years at the same pub to catch up, and at the end of each conversation, Hob insists that he is not ready to die. Over the next hundreds of years, he suffers many hardships and temporarily
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