Netflix’s Geeked Week trailer has arrived, and Neil Gaiman fans are lovingly picking it apart for any glimpses of the storyteller’s upcoming adaptation of his own comic book magnum opus, The Sandman. It looks like we even get our first look at Morpheus, aka The Sandman’s right hand uh, bird, Matthew, the Raven — but it’s not exactly hi-def.
Towards the end of the trailer, there’s a moment where we see the title character and the series title and what’s that around the dream lord’s ankle? It looks very much like a raven. But is it Matthew?
In the series, Matthew is a character from another highly respected comic series, Swamp Thing (the critically acclaimed comic by Watchmen author Alan Moore, not the two movies or the two TV series). Matthew died while dreaming and was invited by Morpheus to become his messenger. Matthew agreed and was turned into a world-weary, occasionally wise-cracking raven.
It’s not known how Matthew will be introduced in the series — the character in the comics doesn’t appear until after the events that will be covered in the series’ first season. But it is known he will definitely be in the adaptation and will be voiced by comedian and actor Patton Oswalt.
Oswalt is playing coy on his Twitter account, retweeting the image with the alleged Matthew circled in red but only writing “Hmmm …” Is it the real Matthew? Or just another crow? Or even an inconveniently raven-shaped rock?
Fans will have to wait for answers. No official release date has been announced, but the series is supposed to air sometime this year.