In Neil Gaiman’s iconic comic series, The Sandman, which ran from 1989 through 1996, the main character Dream, also known as Morpheus, is one of the most powerful beings in the universe who can rule over subconscious minds. The character, one of the Endless “family” of “entities,” was one Michael Jackson expressed interest in portraying in a TV adaption of the series, according to the author in a recent interview.
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On a recent episode of Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast, Gaiman revealed that Jackson wanted the starring role, which is now being played by British actor Tom Sturridge in the 2022 Netflix series, starring Gwendoline Christie, Jenna Coleman, Boyd Holbrook, Mason Alexander Park, and Kirby Howell-Baptiste.
“By 1996, I was being taken to Warner, where the then-president of Warner Bros. sat me down and told me that Michael Jackson had phoned him the day before and asked him if he could star as Morpheus in The Sandman,” recalled Gaiman. “So, there was a lot of interest in this, and they knew that it was one of the Crown Jewels and what did I think? And I was like, ‘Ooh.’”
Jackson, who died at the age of 50 on June 25, 2009, only acted in two films during his lifetime, first as the Scarecrow in The Wiz in 1978, and with a cameo in the 2002 action comedy Men In Black II.
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