The dreamy first teaser for The Sandman helps kick off Netflix Geeked Week

It’s Geeked Week courtesy of Netflix, which means a smorgasbord of new teasers for upcoming series. Most importantly, we got some new teaser shots for The Sandmana teaser for the third and final season of lock & key, and a full trailer for that resident Evil Live Action Series. There were also teasers for a new series from the creators of the masterful German series Darkcalled 1899; Mike Flanagans The Midnight Club; the anthology series Guillermo del Toro’s cabinet of curiosities; and WednesdayTim Burton’s new series focused on a grown-up Wednesday Addams.

(Spoilers for previous seasons of lock & key under.)

The Sandman

sandman Fans have longed for a film adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s legendary graphic novels for decades, and thanks to Netflix, executive producer David Goyer (Foundation, endowment) and showrunner Allan Heinberg. Gaiman was heavily involved as executive producer and regularly gushed on social media about his excitement over the series’ outcome. If this teaser is any indication, we’re inclined to agree. It definitely gets the look and feel of the graphic novels just right.

As I wrote earlier, the title “Sandman” is Dream, aka Morpheus, among other names. He is one of seven beings known as the Endless, and he seeks to right his past mistakes. The other Endless are Destiny, Destruction, Despair, Desire, Delirium, and Death (portrayed as a cheeky young punk/goth woman). Tom Sturridge snagged the coveted role of Morpheus, Lord of the Dreaming. Kirby Howell-Baptiste plays death, Donna Preston plays desperation and Mason Alexander Park plays lust. game of Thrones Former Gwendoline Christie and Charles Dance play gender-swapped Lucifer and charlatan magician Roderick Burgess, respectively.

The cast also includes Boyd Holbrook as The Corinthian, one of Dream’s (failed) nightmares; Vivienne Acheampong as the gender-swapped Lucienne, head librarian of the Dreaming; David Thewlis as John Dee/Doctor Destiny; Jenna Coleman as Johanna Constantine, occult detective and ancestor of DC Comics anti-hero John Constantine; Patton Oswalt as the voice of Matthew, Dream’s raven ambassador; Razane Jammal as Lyta Hall; Kyo Ra as Rose Walker, who encounters the Corinthians in search of her lost brother; Stephen Fry as Rose’s guardian, Gilbert; Sandra James Young as Unity Kinkaid; and Sanjeev Bhaskar and Asim Chaudhry as Cain and Abel, respectively.

According to the official premise:

There’s another world that awaits us all when we close our eyes and sleep – a place called Dreaming, where The Sandman, Master of Dreams (Tom Sturridge), gives shape to all our deepest fears and fantasies. But when Dream is unexpectedly captured and held captive for a century, his absence triggers a series of events that will forever change both the dreaming and waking worlds. To restore order, Dream must travel through different worlds and timelines to correct the mistakes he made during his vast existence, revisiting old friends and enemies and meeting new beings – both cosmic and human – along the way.

We got our first look at the series when Netflix released a brief teaser during its global fan event, Tudum, last September. This footage focused on Dream’s initial capture by Roderick Burgess and his henchmen attempting to capture his sibling Death. This latest footage gives us more of Sturridge’s dream, as well as glimpses of Lucienne, Lucifer, Johanna Constantine and the creepy bleeding eyes of Holbrook’s Corinthian. We also see the crumbling ruins of The Dreaming after the Sandman’s long absence, as Death warns him that much has changed in the meantime.

The Sandman debuts on Netflix on August 5, 2022. We count the days.

lock & key S3

There is a strong attraction to the fundamental premise of lock & key: Three traumatized siblings whose father was recently murdered return with their mother to their father’s ancestral home, the Key House, and discover that the house is full of hidden magical keys that “whisper” to the children until they find them. Only children can hear the keys whisper, and all adults who witness the “magic” of the keys quickly forget what they saw. The TV series has successfully maintained that appeal.

The first season covered most of the main narrative arc in the comics, but left out much of the backstory of where the keys came from, who made them, and who (or what) the shapeshifter Dodge really is. These questions were at least partially answered in S2. Dodge was a demon from beyond the black door who attempted to forge a new magic demon key from a leftover from Whispering Iron and then use it to raise a demon army from the townspeople. The Locke family and their allies defeated Dodge in the season finale, although the teaser features a brief glimpse of Dodge in her original female form, suggesting they could be back in some form.

The second season also included flashbacks to the American Revolutionary War and the conflict between the Locke family and a British general named Frederick Gideon (Kevin Durand), revealing how the magic keys were made – and why they hold such a strong connection to the have descendants of Locke. The flashback footage has been partially subtracted movements and strongly represented in the first arc of World War Keya new lock and key Comic publication that serves as both a prequel and a sequel to the original run.

Season three will complete the planned trilogy as the Locke siblings face their greatest nemesis yet: General Gideon, whose demon-possessed “Echo” rose from the well just like Dodge. He now has the Anywhere Key and has long harbored a grudge against the Locke family. He will also be a lot harder to defeat even if the Locke kids manage to get all their keys back. Chances are we’ll see at least one new key in the game as the series progresses.

The last season of lock & key will be released on Netflix on August 10, 2022.