Mason Alexander Park, the star of “The Sandman“, talks about how closely the series will follow the original comics. “The Sandman” series is a live-action rendition of Neil Gaiman’s renowned tale, which was featured in DC Comics from 1989 to 1996. The Endless, a family of immortal siblings who represent the metaphysical concepts of Dream, Destiny, Death, Desire, Despair, Destruction, and Delirium, are the subject of the comic. Dream, also known as Morpheus, the main character, was imprisoned during World War I and freed in the present before attempting to reestablish his kingdom of the Dreaming. On August 5, 2022, Netflix will release their adaptation of “The Sandman“, which features Tom Sturridge, Gwendoline Christie, Vivienne Acheampong, Boyd Holbrook, Charles Dance, Asim Chaudhry, Sanjeev Baskar, and Kirby Howell-Baptiste.
Park, who will play Desire, is another member of the enormous cast. The persona is an androgynous representation of lust that can appear at different points along the gender continuum. Dream’s main rival is Desire, Despair’s twin sister. Their rivalry started when Desire made Dream fall in love with a woman who would later leave him.
Park agreed to an exclusive interview with Screen Rant to talk about their character and “The Sandman” as a whole. The creator of “The Sandman“, Gaiman, once referred to Dream as “Desire’s stuffy older brother,” according to Park, who went into some detail about the relationship between Desire and Dream in the series. They teased how the show will explore some of the lore and revealed that there will be scenes taken directly from “iconic panels of the comics.” Parks also hopes that they will have the opportunity to delve even deeper, including Sandman: Overture, the prequel comic. Below is a complete quote from Park:
“Well, that’s something people are going to have to watch the show to find out. Or if you know the comics, most people who’ve read them understand where the animosity sort of began. We’ve been alive since the beginning of time, essentially, so there’s a lot of time for siblings to sort of rub up against each other. Neil once described Dream to me as “Desire’s stuffy older brother.” They don’t always see eye-to-eye. It was fun to bring that relationship to life, especially in the later parts of the season.
There are really fun scenes that are directly lifted from the panels of the comics that are iconic to me as a fan. They dive into the history of the lore between Dream and Desire that I hope people will be excited by and want to learn more [about], because there’s so many more comics. Sandman: Overture really is more about the story of Dream and Desire and their relationship. I hope we get the chance to adapt as many of those issues as we possibly can so that people get the full scope of what actually happens between these two individuals.”
Park is undoubtedly qualified to determine whether an adaptation of a Netflix series is worthwhile. They appeared as Gren in just five episodes of the Cowboy Bebop anime adaptation on the streaming service last year, which also starred John Cho, Mustafa Shakir, and Daniella Pineda. That program’s poor reception led to its cancellation after just one season, which might have given Park some insight into what works and what really doesn’t.
So far, “The Sandman” appears to be avoiding those traps. This is particularly true given that the transition from anime to live-action is smaller and less likely to lead to interesting interpretation than the transition from comic to live-action. Despite the fact that Park is unable to provide specifics regarding the show’s adaptation, their satisfaction with it gives rise to a lot of optimism.