The newest series arriving on Netflix boasts the streaming service’s largest budget to date, and it looks wild
Over the last decade, the popularity of streaming services has been on the rise, as more and more people move over from traditional cable TV providers to the likes of Netflix. With this shift in watching habits, we’ve also seen a rise in original content, movies, and television, produced by streaming services. The Netflix original is something we’re just about all familiar with, for both good and bad reasons. While there are a few academy award-nominated and winning movies with the likes of Marriage Story and Mank, but also the much-reviled fodder of franchises such as The Kissing Booth series.
Nevertheless, as the popularity of these properties increases, more and more money is being thrown at them. And the latest series making its way to Netflix is set to boast an insanely huge budget. The Sandman is set to release later this year and is adapted from a comic of the same name, written by Neil Gaiman, the writer of popular series including American Gods and Good Omens and others. You can watch the trailer below:
The trailer gives just a taste of this seriously impressive budget. It has also managed to wrangle a cast comprised of some of the UK’s most acclaimed and prestigious performers, including Gemma Coleman, Charles Dance, Stephen Fry, David Thewlis, and Taron Egerton as well as American talents such as Patton Oswald.
The series is expected to be a dark thrilling fantasy made for an adult crowd. Gaiman, in conversation with Empire magazine, described the show as “You watch Episode 1 and think, ‘Oh, I get this thing: it’s like Downton Abbey, but with magic,”. However, he goes on to subvert expectations. He continues: “Then you’ll be wondering, ‘What the hell is this?’ by Episode 2, when you’re meeting Gregory The Gargoyle in The Dreaming. Episode 5 is about as dark and traumatic as anything is ever gonna get, then you’ve got Episode 6, which is probably the most feel-good of all the episodes.”
With the success of shows such as The Witcher series reaching 76 million views in its first week, The Sandman’s $165 million budget is just a small price to pay for the potential success of the series.
Freelance writer and journalist with an MA in English literature. He's been known to cry at sunsets and laugh in the face of ennui. Not lover nor fighter, but a man and barely one that.
