THE SANDMAN Showrunner Reveals a BATMAN Cameo Was "Briefly" on the Table for Series Finale — GeekTyrant

Geek Tyrant

7 hours ago

It turns out The Sandman almost had a Dark Knight surprise for fans in its series finale. Allan Heinberg, the co-creator and showrunner of the Netflix series, recently revealed that a Batman cameo was 'briefly' considered as the show reached its emotional end.
Anyone familiar with Neil Gaiman's original comic run knows The Sandman is rooted in the main DC Universe, especially early on. The comics featured appearances from characters like Martian Manhunter, Mister Miracle, and even Batman, who shows up at Morpheus' funeral in The Wake .
While the Netflix adaptation opted to keep those DC ties subtle, like the scene with Jed's DC Comics action figures, the creative team still toyed with the idea of bringing Gotham's brooding vigilante into the finale.
Heinberg shared:
'We talked about, 'Does Robert Pattinson want to come to the funeral?' Briefly, we did discuss that, but only briefly.'
That would've been one hell of a surprising moment. Even just a shadowy glimpse among the mourners would've sent fans into a frenzy. In the comic version, Batman is seen interacting with characters like Clark Kent at the wake.
Speaking of Superman, the recently released bonus episode, Death: The High Cost of Living , throws in several nods to the Man of Steel, who happens to be Sexton's favorite hero in the original comic.
Heinberg explained how that came together, and whether it had anything to do with the timing of James Gunn's new Superman movie:
'I didn't! I don't even know if James Gunn watches the show, but I hope so. No, it was that I tried to work in as many DC references as I can. It was one of those things where Colin (Morgan) really wanted to show the, not arrested side of Sexton, but playful side of Sexton.
'That this is somebody who actually, prior to this moment, has a lot of joy and a lot of idealism and he's trying to be out there and, as a climate emergency reporter for The Guardian, he's trying to be a superhero. And he's feeling like he's failing every time he turns around.
'So because we meet him at such a low point, we wanted to really show the audience, this is not someone who's usually like this, this is someone with big ideals and big dreams and who wants to be a hero. And Superman is the cleanest.
'And I've been putting DC Comics stuff into everything I've written for as long as I can remember. So it was a very natural thing to go to Superman.'
Even without a Batman cameo, The Sandman finale still delivered a powerful closing chapter that felt true to the source material while charting its own course.
What did you think of the final season? Did you catch all the DC references in the bonus episode?