Here's How Long Neil Gaiman Hopes The Sandman Lasts

Few comic book stories have as much weight behind them as "The Sandman." The awe-inspiring story from beloved writer Neil Gaiman is finally being adapted into a finished audio-visual project for the first time in the over three decades that the story has existed (via GVN). Following the capture of the Lord of Dreams, Morpheus (Tom Sturridge), by an arrogant sorcerer (Charles Dance), Netflix's adaptation has Gaiman at the helm and will, hopefully, finally give fans the live-action version of this story that they've been dreaming of for so many years.

Though the series begins with Dream/Morpheus trying to set things right following his many years in captivity, the story spins out from there to include Lucifer (Gwendoline Christie), Death (Kirby Howell-Baptiste), a whole host of gods and goddesses, and even William Shakespeare. With all of that in mind, Gaiman sat down with Marc Maron on his "WTF" podcast to discuss the importance and irreverence of "The Sandman" and why he so desperately wanted to oversee the project personally. 

Honestly, the whole "WTF" podcast episode is a treasure trove, particularly if you happen to be a fan of Neil Gaiman's many splendid works, but there are a few sound bites in particular that are worthy of note. A key one comes just as things are wrapping up at the one-hour, 29-minute mark when Gaiman speculates on how many episodes he'd like to see. "You have to make these decisions about how to make 10 [episodes] and then another 10," Maron inquired. From here, Gaiman took the ball and said, "And then hopefully another 10, and then hopefully another 10!" Maron got specific from there, asking, "And that's it?" To which Gaiman mused, "Ah, maybe another 10 after that."

Though this is all just a conversation, of course, the impetus here seems to suggest that Gaiman is open to at least 50 episodes of "The Sandman" on Netflix. Earlier in the podcast, he said that he wants "as many as we can do" in terms of the show, but the closing remarks suggest that the author does have an idea in mind for when he wants the adaptation to wrap up. For clarity's sake, the original "The Sandman" comic series wrapped after 75 issues. However, from the sounds of the episode where Maron and Gaiman are discussing the 1st season, it sounds like the first two arcs of the comic might be wrapped up in the 1st season alone. If this is true, then five seasons could easily encapsulate the entire run of the series. Naturally, though, as Gaiman points out in the episode, that will all depend on how many viewers tune in to watch "The Sandman."