Taking on Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman is not your typical run-of-the-mill acting job, since most of the characters are a literal embodiment of primordial elements and concepts. Yet, according to Mason Alexander Park — who’ll be portraying one of the Endless — the new Netflix adaptation has managed to remain eerily faithful to the comics.
If you were to ask fans, they’d say that as long as the forthcoming Netflix series sticks to the source material, the producers have nothing to worry about in terms of characterization and the subtleties that bring each of them to life. But if there’s one thing we’ve learned in this industry over the years, it’s that adaptations rarely work out the way you want them to, and translating comic book pages into motion picture usually introduces its own set of complications.
There’s practically no doubt as to Tom Sturridge’s ability to bring the titular Morpheus to life, but can we say the same thing about his siblings — the Endless? Well, one of them recently talked to ScreenRant about their character, Desire, and they had some interesting insights into Netflix’s risky new venture.
“Well, that’s something people are going to have to watch the show to find out. Or if you know the comics, most people who’ve read them understand where the animosity sort of began. We’ve been alive since the beginning of time, essentially, so there’s a lot of time for siblings to sort of rub up against each other. Neil once described Dream to me as ‘Desire’s stuffy older brother.’ They don’t always see eye-to-eye. It was fun to bring that relationship to life, especially in the later parts of the season.
“There are really fun scenes that are directly lifted from the panels of the comics that are iconic to me as a fan. They dive into the history of the lore between Dream and Desire that I hope people will be excited by and want to learn more [about], because there’s so many more comics. Sandman: Overture really is more about the story of Dream and Desire and their relationship. I hope we get the chance to adapt as many of those issues as we possibly can so that people get the full scope of what actually happens between these two individuals.”
That statement definitely goes a long way towards putting fan concerns to rest, though they’ll soon be able to judge the series for themselves, as The Sandman becomes available for streaming on Aug. 5.