The Sandman: Release Date and Trailer

The Sandman is coming to Netflix to show you fear in a handful of dust this August. And he’s brining Jenna Coleman with him as Johanna Constantine!

Netflix have revealed when the adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s celebrated comic book series The Sandman arrives on the streaming platform. It premieres on the 5th of August, though it’s unclear yet if all eleven episodes will drop at once. Adapting the first two major storylines of the series by the Doctor’s Wife writer, season one co-stars Doctor Who’s Jenna Coleman as Joanna Constantine.

The Sandman is an epic centring on Morpheus, one of the seven Endless that personify basic elements of sentient life. As the series begins he’s spent a century as the prisoner of those hoping to steal his powers for themselves. Season One first follows his return home to the Dreaming, the place where we all go in our dreams. From there Morpheus attempts to correct the problems his absence has caused both there, and on Earth.

Season One covers the first two storylines, as Morpheus seeks to restore balance to the worlds of dreams and humankind

He’s aided in his quest by the human Johanna Constantine, played by former Clara Oswald Jenna Coleman. Constantine is a skilled practitioner of the dark arts who normally finds herself on the side of saving humanity from the darkness. However, she’s infamously unsentimental about the sacrifices that need to be made to keep Hell at bay. And she’s left a trail of broken lives and broken souls in her wake to prove it. Meanwhile, Coleman also plays the 18th century Lady Johanna Constantine, an ancestor of the modern Johanna who’s both similarly gifted and similarly cunning.

The original comics split the character’s role between the regency era Johanna and the present day John Constantine. However, John is most famous for his own comic series Hellblazer, and a new TV series based on that is currently in development at HBO Max. Possibly, HBO Max want to keep the character to themselves for now. But either way, expanding Johanna’s role to cover both past and present seems like an ideal solution.

You can see the trailer for The Sandman, including a peek at Coleman’s Constantine, as well as Clare Higgins (Ohila in Night of the Doctor, The Magician’s Apprentice and Hell Bent) as the immortal homeless woman Mad Hettie, below:

The Sandman

The Sandman arrives on Netflix on the 5th of August