Sandman 101: What you might want to know going in
Netflix’s fantasy series The Sandmanopens with a small chunk of exposition explaining its protagonist Morpheus, the King of Dreams — which is much more than comics readers got when Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series launched in 1988. Even given the series’ small concession to an audience that may need upfront hooks to commit to the show, both the comics version and the Netflix version of the story leave a great deal for the audience to learn over time. And both versions parcel out that information slowly, as it becomes relevant to a story where the scope is constantly shifting from the personal to the cosmic.
Viewers who enjoy the process of discovery, who like the kind of narrative that baits a hook in episode 1 and doesn’t reel it in until episode 10, should just dive into the show without explanation. Eventually, it’ll answer a lot of the questions it raises — though given that the first season of The Sandman only covers the first two graphic novels out of 10 (not counting later series spinoffs and sequels), it may take years for Netflix to cover just the mysteries laid out in the opening season.
For those who find this kind of storytelling frustrating, though — viewers who aren’t familiar with the comics and don’t want to spend the first season asking, “Who are these people, why are they like this, and what are they referencing?” — this handy guide to the Sandman cosmos and its most important concepts and characters could come in handy.
Sandman’s title character, and more or less its protagonist, is Dream of the Endless, a character who’s also a concept and a fundamental force of the universe. Played by Tom Sturridge in the Netflix adaptation, Dream is an immortal entity who broadly embodies and manages the world of
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