Trepidation. That was the foremost emotion when I pressed play on Sleep of the Just, the first episode of The Sandman series on Netflix. For the two years since it was announced, I have oscillated wildly between being excited about the live-action adaptation and absolutely dreading it.

I needn’t have worried. The Sandman is spectacular! Even for those who have read the comic books and are mature enough to not quibble about changes (some of which actually add to the adaptation) that are necessary to bring, what fans have considered, an unfilmable comic book series to life.

For the uninitiated, The Sandman tells the story of Lord Morpheus aka The Sandman aka Dream, one of the seven Endless along with Death, Desire, Despair, Destiny, Destruction and Delirium. The first season of the show covers the first two volumes of the comic book series — Preludes & Nocturnes and The Doll’s House. And while the show tweaks characters, cuts through storylines and tones down a lot of the horror, it still remains a very faithful adaptation.

The 19-year-old me who read the comic books would have, perhaps, had more mixed feelings about the show because I revelled in the in-your-face messages, the absolute horror of some of the books, the despair they evoked and the show has toned all of it down. But more than two decades later, weary of all the blood and gore that are dime a dozen on television, this adaptation with its subtle tweaks (refer to Episode 5, 24x7) seems to resonate more.

Tom Sturridge is a dream as Dream

The first thing the show nails is the casting. From Tom Hiddleston to Tilda Swinton (fine, Only Lovers Left Alive clearly had much to do with it), I have tried to imagine anyone with cheekbones who can look gaunt, emo and vulnerable as Dream. Tom Sturridge was made for the character. He is perfectly moody, perfectly pouty, perfectly vulnerable, perfectly menacing and most importantly he speaks with a dreamy cadence that is exactly how Dream sounded in my head.

Boyd Holbrook as Cornithian, a nightmare without eyes who gets a meatier role than in the comics, is absolutely brilliant as the season’s main antagonist. Gwendoline Christie as Lucifer Morningstar is inspired casting and given the importance of the character in The Sandman narrative, I am super glad it was her. David Thewlis as John Dee is chillingly scary, even though he is no supervillain (Doctor Destiny in DC Comics), just a deranged human being. Kirby Howell-Baptiste is enigmatic as Death, Stephen Fry owns the role of Gilbert and then there is the stunning performance by Mason Alexander Parks as Desire.

These are just a few of the characters we come across in the show which adapted 16 issues into 10 episodes. There is a lot of material to be unpacked and sometimes the show hurtles forward and suddenly slows down. It could have been jarring if not for the perfect timing. So while the Sound of Her Wings cobbles together material from two issues to debate, discuss and expand Dream’s understanding of humanity, 24x7 slows it down to excruciating hours as you are made to grapple with madness and mayhem.

24x7: The episode that’s going to divide fans

Which brings me to the episode that is going to divide fans and horrify first-timers. The diner issue, 24 Hours, is one of the most horrific comic books ever. The despair and depravity that unfolds over a day in a 24-hour diner left comic readers stunned. A lot of it has been changed for the show but it still remains as the singularly most spectacular episode in recent times.

What happens when you take away the ability for people to pretend, to dream that their life is or could be different? Unlike the comic books, the episode focuses on the characters in the diner more than the depravity that ensues, so that by the time the diner descends into chaos you are actually invested in some of them. There are lots of little tweaks in the episode, the major one being that this John Dee is not out to destroy the world; he actually wants to save it, which makes the episode even more impactful, at least to me (let the diner scene debate begin!).

And let’s not forget how gorgeous the show looks, both the Dreaming and the Waking World. Some of the scenes feel like they have been taken off the pages of the book and while you know most of the scenes are CGI-driven, it is done so artistically that you can’t complain.

All in all, this Neil Gaiman fan has heaved a sigh of relief at how the iconic comic book series has been brought alive on screen (a lot of that no doubt because of Gaiman’s involvement in the development as executive producer). The Sandman is a fantasy and comic book adaptation at its best and I can’t wait to see the other 2,500-odd pages of the series come to life.