Neil Gaiman is a dreamer. The prolific Hugo-, Nebula-, and Newbery-winning author has spent four decades crafting strange, beautiful, and sometimes terrifying worlds that lure in readers of all ages. His extensive bibliography includes superhero stories for Marvel and DC Comics, dark fairy tales, and a book of Norse mythology — and many of those works have taken on new life as film and TV adaptations, radio plays, or theatrical productions.
Gaiman likes to take a very active role in bringing his writing to new mediums, working with the actors and showrunners to ensure that the results both delight his devoted fans and introduce new audiences to his powerful imagination. He co-developed and served as an executive producer of The Sandman and promises “good things are coming” for its next round of episodes. And with the arrival of Dead Boy Detectives, there’s no better time to get acquainted with all of Gaiman’s ghosts, devils, and dreams. Keep reading for a trio of series you can stream right now.
Gaiman serves as the executive producer on Dead Boy Detectives, which is based on a pair of characters originally introduced in the fourth volume of his iconic comic series The Sandman — one of whom Gaiman described as “more or less me as a boy.” The show from Steve Yockey and Beth Schwartz, which is set in the same universe as the Sandman series, follows Edwin Payne (George Rexstrew) and Jayden Revri (Charles Rowland), who were killed by bullies at the same British boarding school more than 70 years apart. Now, as best friends and ghosts, they run from Dream’s sister, Death (Kirby), and work with new friends to solve mysteries that no one else can. “If The Sandman is this really lush, rich supernatural drama, then Dead Boy Detectives is The Hardy Boys on acid,” Yockey shares. “Hopefully just as addictive, but through a severely cracked lens.”
Gaiman’s stories about the Lord of Dreams debuted in 1989 and served as the foundation for DC’s Vertigo label. It took 30 years to bring The Sandman to the screen in a way that could truly live up to Gaiman’s storytelling, which spans millennia and travels through Hell, medieval England, the Dreaming, and the modern world.
The first 11 episodes of the streaming series debuted in 2022, following Dream (Tom Sturridge) as he quests to regain his strength and restore his realm after being held captive for more than a century. Many forces have taken advantage of his absence and the power that was stolen from him, from the living nightmare the Corinthian (Boyd Holbrook) to Lucifer Morningstar (Gwendoline Christie) to Dream’s own scheming sibling, Desire (Mason Alexander Park). New episodes are being dreamed up now, and Gaiman is as excited as anyone to see what comes next. “There are some astonishing stories waiting for Morpheus and the rest of them (not to mention more members of the Endless Family to meet),” he teased last year. “Nobody is going to be happier about this than the Sandman cast and crew: They are the biggest Sandman fans there are. And now it’s time to get back to work. There’s a family meal ahead, after all. And Lucifer is waiting for Morpheus to return to Hell…”
In The Sandman comics, Lucifer finds a way to get back at his enemies by giving up on being the Lord of Hell and heading to Los Angeles to run a bar. That premise inspired Mike Carey to write a spin-off comic series starring Gaiman’s version of the fallen angel, which served as the basis for a series from Tom Kapinos that ran for three years on Fox before moving to Netflix for three more seasons.
While Christie plays Lucifer in The Sandman, in this series the character is portrayed by the devilishly charming Tom Ellis. In this occult procedural, he finds a new way to punish the wicked by working as a consultant for the LAPD, solving crimes that often involve angels, demons, and immortals.
