Not long after the 1989 launch of The Sandman, Neil Gaiman’s groundbreaking comic-book 

series, came the inevitable question that plagues critically acclaimed smash hits—how best to

translate it to the screen? The series’s central family, known as “The Endless,” live in a vividly cinematic 

world; each member personifies a natural force, including dreams, death, and desire. But 

Gaiman’s epic story spans eons and an ensemble of dozens. Its hero’s emotions could gently be

described as inscrutable. None of that would easily fit into a two-hour movie, and so The Sandman 

has drifted for decades in search of the visual medium that could do it justice. Has it finally 

found its footing as a Netflix series? Netflix has provided fertile ground for expensive-looking 

genre adaptations that play to devoted fan bases, such as The Witcher, The Umbrella Academy, 

and A Series of Unfortunate Events. Its usual policy of releasing whole seasons at once means,