Neil Gaiman explains why it took Good Omens succeeding for The Sandman to come to screen

A live-action adaptation of Neil Gaiman's The Sandman seemed doomed to failure for 30 some-odd years – until the writer eventually stepped into the role of showrunner for Good Omens.

When Amazon and BBC Studios ordered a series adaptation of Good Omens, Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's joint 1990 novel of the same name, Gaiman was brought in as showrunner for the very first time – having only ever served as executive producer and consultant for other adaptations of his works such as American Gods, Coraline, How to Talk to Girls at Parties, and Stardust. It was Gaiman's leadership on Good Omens that lead to a successful adaptation of The Sandman after so many others had failed.

"The odds against this happening were enormous," the author explained in a press room interview at San Diego Comic-Con. "For 30 odd years, people were trying to make Sandman films. They were trying to take 3000 pages of Sandman and somehow condense it successfully into two hours of cinema and it never worked."

The Sandman, which spans a total of 95 issues, follows Morpheus, the Lord of Dreams, who is captured by human beings and forced to come to terms with the fact that change is inevitable. Creating a live-action adaptation that successfully incorporated the complex storyline, intricate world-building, and array of carefully crafted characters such as Death, Desire, and Despair, proved no easy feat for filmmakers.

"It took that not happening, and then me having show-run Good Omens and everybody suddenly going, 'Oh, he's not just the writer who is this weird thing that we need to keep as far away from this as possible. He's a showrunner and he made this and he understands this stuff, so why don't we bring him in?'"

Good Omens stars Michael Sheen and David Tennant as an angel and a demon with an unlikely friendship. The show premiered in 2019 and was renewed for a second season. Gaiman is also set to serve as showrunner on Amazon Prime Video's adaptation of his novel, Anansi Boys. 

"And then it took finding [co-showrunner Allan Heinberg], it took this golden era of TV streaming. It took, you know, something of the size of Netflix to say, yes, here is the CGI budget that you're gonna need to make this," he continued. "And it all came together. There is no part of me that goes, 'I wish we could have made this in 1997' because we couldn't have made this in 1997. There was no way, but we could make it now. And we have, and we are so lucky."

 The Sandman premieres August 5, 2022 on Netflix. For more, check out our lists of the best Netflix shows and the best Netflix movies.