Prince of Stories
Neil Gaiman talks ‘Sandman,’ trans people, algorithm gnomes and the heart of Texas
Neil Gaiman, fantasy author and the man they call the Prince of Stories, is returning to Houston for a night of readings and audience questions, presented by Performing Arts Houston. True to his name, he spun some tales, even as we badgered him for news on the many upcoming projects that bear his name.
First on everyone’s lips is the Netflix adaptation of his critically beloved comic series “The Sandman.”
After decades in development hell, the story of the Dream King and his existential crisis over the changing world is finally getting a big-budget production starring everyone from Gwendoline Christie as Lucifer to Kirby Howell-Baptiste as Death. Unfortunately, the release date is still in the hands of powers Gaiman does not pretend to understand.
“Netflix has mysterious ways of doing things,” he says. “They don’t ever actually explain. There are things they call ‘the algorithm,’ and in my head, the algorithms are these little gnomes that live in a dark room. The people from Netflix open the door and fling in their offering to the algorithms, then a piece of paper is slipped under the door saying, ‘You can release it in November.’ ”
For a long time, “Sandman” was considered unfilmable. Despite nominally taking place in the DC Comic universe, it features few superheroics or flashy battles. Instead, it’s the story of an immensely powerful being who fears change so much that it puts even him in mortal danger. That isn’t the sort of thing that usually sates a comic-book movie audience, but after shows like “WandaVision” and “Doom Patrol,” which explore more esoteric heroics, the world might finally be ready for the adventures of Morpheus.
Or maybe not. Since the casting announcements were made, there have been a fair number of fans upset that some roles originally portrayed as white and male went to people of color and women. Desire, Morpheus’ gender-fluid sibling, will be played by nonbinary actor Mason Alexander Park. It’s pretty common for people to come at Gaiman on Twitter complaining about “wokeness” and then get gently dunked on by the author.
The subject of trans people came up as we discussed
what change meant both for a godlike being and the world 30 years after “Sandman” debuted. An early story arc in the comic focuses on a trans woman named Wanda, modeled after some of Gaiman’s friends.
“I was watching them have to deal with society being mean to them,” he says. “Watching them die, and their parents would cut their hair and bury them under their name and gender they’d been born with, not what they were using. I thought that was the worst thing in the world. There was no respect and no politeness and no being willing to see another person’s point of view.”
Naturally, the conversation turned to Texas, where Gov. Greg Abbott has instructed public agencies to begin investigating the parents of trans kids for child abuse. The move sent shockwaves through LGBTQ+ families in the state as they feared government retaliation. Gaiman says that doesn’t mesh with the Texas he has come to know.
“Texas is all about respect for other people’s points of view and how they live their lives,” he says. “You live yours, I’ll live mine, we don’t have to get in each other’s way. That always seemed like the Texas culture I bumped into. I hope some of that still remains and that a story can change people’s minds about doing it right.”
Gaiman did have some welcome news for fans. Season 2 of “Good Omens” has finished filming, and the author says there are still enough plot threads and ideas left over from his original collaboration with late author Terry Pratchett for a third season.
It’s been five years since Gaiman released an adult prose book, but he is working on a new novel set in the world of “Neverwhere.” As for the long-awaited sequel to “American Gods” that was so cruelly teased in the annotated edition of the book? Well, Gaiman hopes the project will make him functionally immortal, as long as people are waiting.
“What I’m hoping for is that a lot of people all over the world are determined that I stay alive,” he says, “Like George R.R. Martin. There are millions of people keeping him in their prayers each night so that he finishes his stories.”