Like pretty much every other major TV and film project currently in development, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic stalled production on Netflix's planned adaptation of Neil Gaiman's The Sandman, but it looks like things are finally starting to move forward.
According to The Illuminerdi, Netflix and Warner Bros. TV have enlisted Toby Hayes to direct an undisclosed number of episodes. Hayes is best known for helming multiple episodes of the Matt Smith incarnation of Doctor Who, as well as the Emmy Award-winning “USS Callister” instalment of Black Mirror.
The 10-episode first season of The Sandman is expected to adapt the first arc of the Vertigo comics series, "Preludes and Nocturnes," which finds Morpheus captured by a black magician and held prisoner for the better part of a century. When he finally escapes, he sets about recovering three very important items, encountering Lucifer, John Constantine, Doctor Destiny, Martian Manhunter and more on his travels.
Gaiman is developing the show along with David S. Goyer and Allan Heinberg.
The search is currently underway to find a lead actor to play Morpheus on the show. James McAvoy recently voiced the character to great acclaim in Audible's adaptation, and is now a fan-favorite pick to bring life to Dream in live-action (though that's highly unlikely to happen).