Yesterday, we learned that Tom Sturridge (Far from the Madding Crowd, Velvet Buzzsaw) is in talks to star in Netflix’s series adaptation of Neil Gaimen’s The Sandman. Today, /Film is reporting that Liam Hemsworth and Dacre Montgomery are in the running to play one of the major villains in the story known as The Corinthian.
The Corinthian is a rogue nightmare created by Morpheus “to be the darkness, and the fear of darkness in every human heart. A black mirror, made to reflect everything about itself that humanity will not confront.” But he’s deemed a failure for having done nothing other than committing gruesome murders.
The character’s most notable physical feature in the comics is his lack of eyes: in their place, two rows of small, jagged teeth line each eye socket, which he often covers with sunglasses. He can speak, eat, see, and even respire through these mouths.
The report describes The Corinthian as “a supernaturally handsome character oozing sex appeal whose pleasing physical appearance hides a sadistic, predatory persona.” He also often eats the eyeballs of victims. He’s quite a sinister villain, and I hope that Montgomery, who you know from Stranger Things, lands the role. I can totally see him as this character. Hemsworth? Not so much.
Netflix gave the series an 11 episode order, and Doctor Who and Black Mirror director Toby Hayes was hired to helm some of them. Allan Heinberg (Wonder Woman, The Catch, Grey’s Anatomy) is writing the show, and he will also serve as showrunner.
The story focuses on Morpheus, the Lord of the Dreaming, a deity who personifies dreams. Gaiman also introduced the Endless, a group of powerful brothers and sisters named Destiny, Death, Destruction, Despair, Desire, and Delirium (as well as Dream).
The first season of the series 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.
In a previous interview, Gaiman confirmed that the storyline for the show will be set in 2021, and there will be some changes from the source material. He explained:
“We’re working with Netflix, we were meant to start shooting at the end of May. Given this COVID world, everything is on pause. The Netflix version is going to begin in 2021, so Morpheus will have been kept prisoner in the Netflix version for 105 years rather than 70 years. We’ll take that one, see what that does. It’s already in the scripts, it does interesting things because… if we were creating this character now, what gender would the character be?”
Gaiman is developing the show along with David S. Goyer and Allan Heinberg. Who would you like to see take on the role of The Corinthian?