Neil Gaiman reveals Michael Jackson wanted to play Morpheus in The Sandman

‘There was a lot of interest in this,’ says Neil Gaiman

The Sandman creator Neil Gaiman has revealed Michael Jackson wanted to play Morpheus while he was attempting to create the show in the Nineties.

Earlier this month, the streaming giant released a small screen adaptation of Gaiman’s comic book series The Sandman, starring Tom Sturridge, Jenna Coleman, and Gwendoline Christie.

During a recent appearance on Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast, Gaiman revealed that the King of Pop had wanted to play the iconic character portrayed by Sturridge in the Netflix version.

“By 1996, I was being taken to Warners, 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,” Gaiman told Horowitz.

Gaiman continued: “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.’”

According to Comic Book Resources, efforts to adapt Gaiman’s 1989-1996 comic book series began in 1991.

The publication reports that an adaptation starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt gained traction in 2013 before the actor reportedly left over creative differences.

The recently released Netflix adaptation has received mostly favourable reviews from fans and critics, earning an 87 per cent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Despite the show’s popularity, its future is still up in the air with Netflix yet to greenlight a second season.

Gaiman was candid when speaking about the chances of the streamer approving series two, and gave fans some advice on what they could do to help swing the odds in its favour.