Neil Gaiman’s brainchild The Sandman saw the lights of the day after nearly 34 years. Neil Gaiman was very particular that the series followed the novel faithfully and the end result blew away the fans. The series topped the Netflix charts and was hailed by both fans and critics. 

Before the Netflix series debuted, numerous directors and studio houses had tried to adapt the beloved novel to the big screen. But almost all of the iterations didn’t quite match Gaiman’s visions. One, in particular, was so outrageous in its re-imagination of the comic book, that Gaiman had no choice but to leak the script to make sure it never gets the green light. 

Neil Gaiman is proud of what he did to save his creation, The Sandman

In the latest Twitter post, the author claims that he regrets nothing. Since the statute of limitations is over by now, dragging him to jail is pointless. But if that does happen he won’t regret his actions 25 years ago. 

Interestingly, Harlan Cohen also got Gaiman’s back. 

Jon Peters, the producer of Man of Steel and A Star is Born had sent a Sandman script to Gaiman. The author apparently hated the script so much that, that he leaked the “really stupid” script to Ain’t It Cool News anonymously. He claimed that the script was a complete “mess.”

“There was nothing in there I loved. There was nothing in there I liked. It was the worst script that I’ve ever read by anybody. It’s not just the worst ‘Sandman’ script. That was the worst script I’ve ever been sent,” he told Rolling Stone. 

Peter’s script completely flips the unique storyline of The Sandman. It contained giant mechanics spiders and Corinthian, Lucifer and Morpheus were supposedly triplets. They race to find the helm, sand, and ruby before the turn of the century. The plot centered on the brother’s rivalry. 

Well, we can’t imagine the three as triplets. In fact, if Peter’s film had gotten made, it would have surely angered the fans by making it a generic action film. 

Do you think Neil Gaiman did the right thing?