Neil Gaiman Says 'The Sandman' Movie Failed Because It Was Meant For A Series

"The Sandman" writer Neil Gaiman explained why the movie version failed and why it was always supposed to be a streaming show instead.

The 61-year-old writer shared that he just wanted to use the first two volumes of "The Sandman" comic book and make high-quality 10 episodes.

"What I needed above all else was a world in which you could take the first two volumes of Sandman and make them into 10 episodes of high-quality television," he told The Wrap in an interview published Thursday.

Gaiman further shared how people mostly talk about the failure of 2017's "The Sandman" movie, noting that it failed because one can't tell a story that's 3,000 pages long within 120 minutes.

The flick was penned and helmed by Peter Sullivan. The horror movie starred Haylie Duff, Shae Smolik, Shaun Sipos, Tobin Bell, Amanda Wyss and Iggy Pop.

"Mostly, people just talked about making Sandman movies where you are trying to figure out the problem of taking 3,000 pages of story and telling it in 120 minutes, which is an awful lot like trying to put the ocean into a pint glass," he explained.

The writer further disclosed that before online streaming platforms like Netflix, there wasn't really a way to put this into episodes. "There wasn’t actually a way to do this, to be this faithful and get that deep into the series," he shared.

However, the writer disclosed that a network had proposed making "The Sandman" for television.

"There was a proposal for a network version of Sandman, which was basically the Rose Walker adventures and Morpheus as a mysterious figure in the background who would show up from time to time and say things to her in her dreams," he said. "And it was like, ‘Well, let’s not do that, OK?’ Now, we’re in a world in which we have Netflix."

The writer noted besides Netflix, there are various other streaming platforms available that consist of a good budget to make a series like "The Sandman."

"And [Netflix] they have been incredibly supportive of Sandman all the way and now we are getting to show people what we’ve made," he shared.

The Sandman is a DC Comics character, which first appeared in 1989's comic book of the same name. Considering the upcoming series "The Sandman" is slated to premiere on Netflix this Friday.

It revolves around Sandman's character, also known as Dream, who can control all dreams. How he gets captured and becomes a prisoner for over a century, will further unfold the story.