The Sandman: How The Corinthian Changed The Netflix Series From The Comic
"The Sandman" is one of the most beloved comic book series of all time. Considering its scope, Netflix took a bit of a risk in adapting the sprawling series to the screen. With writer Neil Gaiman himself heavily involved, fans could at least trust that everything would be handled with the utmost care, even if there are a few big differences between Netflix's "The Sandman" and the comic.
For instance, the Netflix version of "The Sandman" has Dream, a.k.a. Morpheus (Tom Sturridge), in the mortal realm seeking an escaped nightmare called The Corinthian (Boyd Holbrook). Meanwhile, the original prologue Gaiman wrote for the series in 2013 featured a different story — one that helps to explain the mythos behind the show's beginnings.
While "The Sandman: Overture" begins with Dream intending to go after The Corinthian, he is instead drawn away by a far more important matter. Dream discovers that there is a type of madness spreading from a distant star that will engulf the universe in destruction unless he can avert the disaster. Worse still, Dream himself may be responsible for the madness.
There's a good reason why Dream is so easily captured
As it turns out in the comics, Dream once spared a vortex from death. As a result, the current dangers of the madness are spreading throughout the universe. "The Sandman: Overture" sees Dream journey across the universe to where the star is in order to stop it. Unfortunately, other stars have succumbed to the madness, and Dream is cast into a black hole.
Though the universe is destroyed, Dream's powers allow him to reflect reality, and he creates an alternate universe where this did not occur. Then, by getting enough surviving dreamers to dream of his new reality, Dream is able to bring it to life and recreate the universe as it was before these apocalyptic events occurred.
The downside is that this takes a significant toll on Dream, and he's too weak to stave off his capture by magician Roderick Burgess, who's portrayed by Charles Dance in the adaptation. Naturally, this helps to explain why such a powerful being as Dream could be captured by a mortal man so easily in the first place.
While Netflix's more grounded reasoning for Dream's capture makes a little bit less sense, it does help to set up how much of a threat The Corinthian is. This change is fitting as The Corinthian is the central villain of the first arc of "The Sandman," and it helps to build him up as such just before Dream is imprisoned at the start of the series.