Neil Gaiman‘s brilliant comic book series The Sandman should probably never be adapted into a movie.  Even a TV series would be difficult because the books are so intricately tied to the varied artwork, styles, and tones of the stories.  But back in the early 1990s, Warner Bros. wanted to turn The Sandman into a movie even though Gaiman said [via David Hughes' book Tales from Development Hell], it would be “like taking a baby and cutting off both of its arms and one its legs and nose and trying to cram it in this little box, and filling the rest of the box up with meat.” (He does have a way with words)  However, he did try to “pitch/explain” Sandman to the studio, and he and artist Jill Thompson drew up some concept art for their pitch.  Gaiman has now tweeted the concept art, which was part of a pitch for a Sandman trilogy.

I haven’t read Sandman in a decade, but I can tell from the images that this covers the first graphic novel, Preludes and Nocturnes and maybe some of the second book, The Doll’s House.  Hit the jump to check out the artwork, and if you want to read the whole torrid history of The Sandman movie, be sure to pick up Tales from Development Hell.

Though a film adaptation never came to fruition, last September brought news that Neil Gaiman’s seminal comic book series The Sandman may head to television in the form of a series from Warner Bros. and Supernatural creator Eric Kripke. However, at a PaleyFest red carpet event, Kripke had some disappointing news, telling The Live Feed “Unfortunately, for a lot of varying reasons, Sandman is not in the works, at least for this season.” He elaborated that the potential adaptation “just didn’t quite happen this season through nobody’s fault, and hopefully we can do it again in the future.”

So it sounds like there is still hope for those looking to see Gaiman’s favorite comic book get its due diligence on some sort of screen whether it’s big or small. But for now the project won’t be getting off the ground anytime soon. I guess it’s not surprising since a film adaptation was attempted several times since the 90s with no success. Neil Gaiman fans will just have to be a little more patient. Hit the jump for a synopsis of The Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes and Nocturnes.

Update: DC Comics Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns has tweeted a status update on the project.  Johns tweets that Gaiman is on board and that development on the series continues.  It’s possible that the development simply now continues without Kripke’s participation.  Here’s Johns’ tweet:

Correction to world: The Sandman is AWAKE! Psyched to be working with @neilhimself on developing one of the greatest series ever!

Though there had been talk about a film adaptation about the seminal comic book series The Sandman from Neil Gaiman (who also wrote the source material for such adaptations as Coraline and Stardust), but now Heat Vision reports the property is now in the early stages of being developed into a TV show over at Warner Bros. The studio is currently acquiring the rights from DC Entertainment and have already begun talks with various writers and producers for the TV adaptation. Apparently the top choice right now is Eric Kripke, most well known for creating Supernatural, but at the moment author Neil Gaiman is currently not involved with these developments which could create problems down the road. For those unfamiliar with the property you can find story details are after the jump.