An adaptation of Neil Gaiman's The Sandman was on the table for decades before finally becoming a reality at Netflix, and we're now learning that at one point, Michael Jackson was being considered for the lead role of Morpheus.

Speaking on the Happy Sad Confused podcast (via Variety), Gaiman said the late singer had been interested in playing Morpheus.

“By 1996, I was being taken to Warners, where the then-president of Warner Bros. sat me down and told me that Michael Jackson had phoned him the day before and asked him if he could star as Morpheus in The Sandman,” Gaiman said. “So there was a lot of interest in this, and they knew that it was one of the crown jewels, and what did I think? And I was like, ‘Ooh.'”

In the adaptation that finally reached the finish line this year, Tom Sturridge took on the lead role. But it's interesting to imagine what a Sandman with Jackson could have looked like. Jackson was most well-known for his music career that included hits like Thriller and Beat It, but he also appeared in a handful of movies, including The Wiz and Men in Black II.

This year's Netflix adaptation of The Sandman comic book has been a long time coming, but Gaiman himself hasn't always been on board. The Sandman creator admitted he sabotaged a planned movie adaptation years ago, but he now calls the finished product "a gift for that 29-year-old Neil, who went into the Warner Brothers offices and said, ‘Please don't make Sandman.’"

Despite earning an amazing score in our review, and being one of Netflix's most-watched shows since launch, the streamer has still not renewed The Sandman for Season 2.

For more, check out how Netflix's Sandman adaption changed Calliope's story in a big way. Or, read about the surprise episode of The Sandman released on Netflix.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN covering video game and entertainment news. He has over six years of experience with bylines at IGN, Nintendo Wire, Switch Player Magazine, Lifewire, and more. Find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant, where he's probably pleading for an F-Zero revival.

Marvel Studios has yet to reveal who will star in the upcoming Wonder Man series, but fans can expect at least one MCU veteran to return. Ben Kingsley will reprise the role of struggling actor/faux-Mandarin Trevor Slattery.

Variety broke the news of Kingsley's return. While it's unknown exactly how Slattery fits into the series, Variety's sources indicate Kingsley "will play a major role" in the Disney+ project. Given that Wonder Man himself is depicted as an actor and stuntman in the comics, it's possible Slattery will be portrayed as a mentor or colleague to Simon Williams.

Wonder Man will mark Kingsley's fourth stint as Slattery. He debuted in the role in 2013's Iron Man 3. Kingsley was marketed as the film's main villain, with viewers led to believe he was playing The Mandarin. However, in one of the more memorable examples of the MCU subverting the comic book source material, Kingsley's character turned out to be a low-level actor hired to play a fictional terrorist leader, thereby disguising the work of "real" Mandarin Aldrich Killian (played by Guy Pearce).

Slattery returned in the 2014 short film "All Hail the King," which revealed both he and Killian were impersonating the actual Mandarin, an underworld figure who was so angered by their disrespect that he arranged to have Slattery kidnapped from prison. That twist eventually paid off in 2021's Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, where Slattery returned as a captive court jester to Tony Leung's Xu Wenwu, before ultimately winning his freedom. Presumably, Wonder Man will chronicle the next step in Trevor Slattery's strange journey through the MCU.

Shang-Chi's Deston Daniel Cretton will executive produce the Wonder Man series, with Andrew Guest overseeing the series as head writer. No other cast or crew have been revealed so far.

Cretton looks to have a very busy Marvel schedule over the next several years. He recently signed on to direct Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, which debuts on May 2, 2025 and will serve as the penultimate chapter in the MCU's Phase 6. Cretton also revealed he's begun early work on a Shang-Chi sequel, though it's unclear whether that film will drop before or after The Kang Dynasty.

Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.

Marvel Studios has yet to reveal who will star in the upcoming Wonder Man series, but fans can expect at least one MCU veteran to return. Ben Kingsley will reprise the role of struggling actor/faux-Mandarin Trevor Slattery.

Variety broke the news of Kingsley's return. While it's unknown exactly how Slattery fits into the series, Variety's sources indicate Kingsley "will play a major role" in the Disney+ project. Given that Wonder Man himself is depicted as an actor and stuntman in the comics, it's possible Slattery will be portrayed as a mentor or colleague to Simon Williams.

Wonder Man will mark Kingsley's fourth stint as Slattery. He debuted in the role in 2013's Iron Man 3. Kingsley was marketed as the film's main villain, with viewers led to believe he was playing The Mandarin. However, in one of the more memorable examples of the MCU subverting the comic book source material, Kingsley's character turned out to be a low-level actor hired to play a fictional terrorist leader, thereby disguising the work of "real" Mandarin Aldrich Killian (played by Guy Pearce).

Slattery returned in the 2014 short film "All Hail the King," which revealed both he and Killian were impersonating the actual Mandarin, an underworld figure who was so angered by their disrespect that he arranged to have Slattery kidnapped from prison. That twist eventually paid off in 2021's Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, where Slattery returned as a captive court jester to Tony Leung's Xu Wenwu, before ultimately winning his freedom. Presumably, Wonder Man will chronicle the next step in Trevor Slattery's strange journey through the MCU.

Shang-Chi's Deston Daniel Cretton will executive produce the Wonder Man series, with Andrew Guest overseeing the series as head writer. No other cast or crew have been revealed so far.

Cretton looks to have a very busy Marvel schedule over the next several years. He recently signed on to direct Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, which debuts on May 2, 2025 and will serve as the penultimate chapter in the MCU's Phase 6. Cretton also revealed he's begun early work on a Shang-Chi sequel, though it's unclear whether that film will drop before or after The Kang Dynasty.

Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.

Microsoft has revealed September 2022’s Xbox Games With Gold, including Gods Will Fall and the gaming classic, Portal 2.

As revealed over at Xbox Wire, next month’s offerings include some stone-cold classics with the likes of Portal 2 leading the lineup. Gods Will Fall is also included alongside Double Kick Heroes and the theme park designer, Thrillville.

The four Games With Gold titles will be available in September for anyone with Xbox Live Gold or Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.

Starting on September 1, Gods Will Fall and Thrillville to kick things off.

Gods Will Fall is available for Xbox Series X|S – a dark fantasy action game allowing you to lead a band of Celtic warriors against the gods themselves, taking on monsters and deities alike in each of the gods’ realms.

Thrillville is only available until September 15 but allows you to build your very own theme parks. Design roller coasters and go-karts, mini golf courses – the whole nine yards. Check on your guests and make sure you keep them happy to keep your theme park profitable. It’s an original Xbox title available via backward compatibility. A must for retro gamers.

Double Kick Heroes and Portal 2 will arrive midway through the month on September 16.

Rock adventure Double Kick Heroes combines shoot ‘em ups with rhythm games for a whole new experience on Xbox Series X|S. There are 30 levels of madness and metal… so get out your axe and prepare to shred.

Portal 2 needs no introduction – it’s the classic sci-fi puzzler that pits its silent protagonist against the maniacal computer system, GLaDOS. An all-time classic with hours of gameplay and an excellent co-op mode, you’ll want to pick up this one for sure.

IGN’s Portal 2 review gave it 9.5/10 saying: “The original Portal benefitted from its brevity. It had a concise story paired with inventive first-person puzzle mechanics that challenged you to be creative while pulling the trigger. Portal 2 makes the original look like the prototype it was. It's filled with a larger cast of characters vividly brought to life through brilliant writing and some of the best voice acting in video games. Its puzzles are challenging without being unreasonable, and, once you're finished with the single-player mode, one of the best cooperative experiences on the market awaits.”

As previously announced, Xbox Games With Gold will no longer include Xbox 360 games from October 2022, so be sure to grab Portal 2. It’s an excellent game to see off the Xbox 360’s Games With Gold offerings.

Be sure to check out what’s headed to Xbox Game Pass in August.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Microsoft has revealed September 2022’s Xbox Games With Gold, including Gods Will Fall and the gaming classic, Portal 2.

As revealed over at Xbox Wire, next month’s offerings include some stone-cold classics with the likes of Portal 2 leading the lineup. Gods Will Fall is also included alongside Double Kick Heroes and the theme park designer, Thrillville.

The four Games With Gold titles will be available in September for anyone with Xbox Live Gold or Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.

Starting on September 1, Gods Will Fall and Thrillville to kick things off.

Gods Will Fall is available for Xbox Series X|S – a dark fantasy action game allowing you to lead a band of Celtic warriors against the gods themselves, taking on monsters and deities alike in each of the gods’ realms.

Thrillville is only available until September 15 but allows you to build your very own theme parks. Design roller coasters and go-karts, mini golf courses – the whole nine yards. Check on your guests and make sure you keep them happy to keep your theme park profitable. It’s an original Xbox title available via backward compatibility. A must for retro gamers.

Double Kick Heroes and Portal 2 will arrive midway through the month on September 16.

Rock adventure Double Kick Heroes combines shoot ‘em ups with rhythm games for a whole new experience on Xbox Series X|S. There are 30 levels of madness and metal… so get out your axe and prepare to shred.

Portal 2 needs no introduction – it’s the classic sci-fi puzzler that pits its silent protagonist against the maniacal computer system, GLaDOS. An all-time classic with hours of gameplay and an excellent co-op mode, you’ll want to pick up this one for sure.

IGN’s Portal 2 review gave it 9.5/10 saying: “The original Portal benefitted from its brevity. It had a concise story paired with inventive first-person puzzle mechanics that challenged you to be creative while pulling the trigger. Portal 2 makes the original look like the prototype it was. It's filled with a larger cast of characters vividly brought to life through brilliant writing and some of the best voice acting in video games. Its puzzles are challenging without being unreasonable, and, once you're finished with the single-player mode, one of the best cooperative experiences on the market awaits.”

As previously announced, Xbox Games With Gold will no longer include Xbox 360 games from October 2022, so be sure to grab Portal 2. It’s an excellent game to see off the Xbox 360’s Games With Gold offerings.

Be sure to check out what’s headed to Xbox Game Pass in August.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is set to plug in on September 13, and Netflix has released a new trailer and images to hype up the insane anime adaptation.

Adapted by famed anime studio Trigger, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners tells an original story set in the Cyberpunk universe. The series is centered around a young street kid who dreams of becoming an edgerunner, or a mercenary outlaw. He seemingly teams up with Lucy, a skilled netrunner looking to escape her past.

While the synopsis might be typical, the trailer is anything but. The art style leans on the abstract and it's very clear that Cyberpunk: Edgerunners will have a different tone and vibe from the more serious Cyberpunk 2077 RPG from CD Projekt.

You can check out the NSFW trailer here as well as the new screenshots in the gallery below.

Studio Trigger is a Tokyo-based anime house best known for its expressive style. The studio has made anime like Kill la Kill, SSSS. Gridman, and Little Witch Academia.

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is a co-production with CD Projekt and therefore a spinoff from Cyberpunk 2077. CD Projekt's RPG was released in 2020, and while it was an ambitious RPG on PC, the console versions suffered from severe technical issues. Though CDPR has promised to address these with regular updates.

Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is set to plug in on September 13, and Netflix has released a new trailer and images to hype up the insane anime adaptation.

Adapted by famed anime studio Trigger, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners tells an original story set in the Cyberpunk universe. The series is centered around a young street kid who dreams of becoming an edgerunner, or a mercenary outlaw. He seemingly teams up with Lucy, a skilled netrunner looking to escape her past.

While the synopsis might be typical, the trailer is anything but. The art style leans on the abstract and it's very clear that Cyberpunk: Edgerunners will have a different tone and vibe from the more serious Cyberpunk 2077 RPG from CD Projekt.

You can check out the NSFW trailer here as well as the new screenshots in the gallery below.

Studio Trigger is a Tokyo-based anime house best known for its expressive style. The studio has made anime like Kill la Kill, SSSS. Gridman, and Little Witch Academia.

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is a co-production with CD Projekt and therefore a spinoff from Cyberpunk 2077. CD Projekt's RPG was released in 2020, and while it was an ambitious RPG on PC, the console versions suffered from severe technical issues. Though CDPR has promised to address these with regular updates.

Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.

Has Jordan Peele finished telling his most recent horror tale? Nope.

During an interview with The New York Times, the 43-year-old filmmaker teased that sci-fi horror flick Nope could be part of a wider universe. After fans noticed that a character seen in the trailers (and listed on IMDB as “Nobody”) was cut from the final film, the director revealed that there’s a good reason for that.

“The story of that character has yet to be told, I can tell you that,” he told The New York Times. “Which is another frustrating way of saying, I’m glad people are paying attention.”

“Nobody” is played by Michael Busch and can be briefly seen in one trailer. Unfortunately, the mysterious character was cut from the final film… but fans have been eager to find out why he’s spotted walking so calmly among a clearly panicked crowd.

“I do think they will get more answers on some of these things in the future,” added Peele. “We’re not over telling all of these stories.”

There’s certainly plenty of scope for more Nope – the film’s ending leaves a lot of its story untold.

Whether or not we’re talking about a sequel or merely another story set within the Nope universe remains to be seen. However, if it is a direct sequel, this would be Peele’s first. His directorial debut came in 2017 with the horror film Get Out, followed by Us in 2019.

The mystery certainly deepens considering the character is called “Nobody”, raising questions about how he would have fit into the story of Nope… and how he might eventually get his own appearance elsewhere.

IGN’s Nope review gave it 9/10 saying: “A hilariously bleak vision of the American dream, Jordan Peele’s Nope is a farcical love letter to Hollywood filmmaking. A sci-fi-horror-comedy that builds cinematic myths before casually knocking them over, it’s one of the most effective and purely entertaining summer blockbusters in years, from a studio director at the peak of his craft.”

Whether or not “Nobody” appears as a blu-ray extra or something more, remains to be seen.

Want to read more about Nope? Check out how Nope fits into our best horror films of 2022 so far, as well as what Nope is really about.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Has Jordan Peele finished telling his most recent horror tale? Nope.

During an interview with The New York Times, the 43-year-old filmmaker teased that sci-fi horror flick Nope could be part of a wider universe. After fans noticed that a character seen in the trailers (and listed on IMDB as “Nobody”) was cut from the final film, the director revealed that there’s a good reason for that.

“The story of that character has yet to be told, I can tell you that,” he told The New York Times. “Which is another frustrating way of saying, I’m glad people are paying attention.”

“Nobody” is played by Michael Busch and can be briefly seen in one trailer. Unfortunately, the mysterious character was cut from the final film… but fans have been eager to find out why he’s spotted walking so calmly among a clearly panicked crowd.

“I do think they will get more answers on some of these things in the future,” added Peele. “We’re not over telling all of these stories.”

There’s certainly plenty of scope for more Nope – the film’s ending leaves a lot of its story untold.

Whether or not we’re talking about a sequel or merely another story set within the Nope universe remains to be seen. However, if it is a direct sequel, this would be Peele’s first. His directorial debut came in 2017 with the horror film Get Out, followed by Us in 2019.

The mystery certainly deepens considering the character is called “Nobody”, raising questions about how he would have fit into the story of Nope… and how he might eventually get his own appearance elsewhere.

IGN’s Nope review gave it 9/10 saying: “A hilariously bleak vision of the American dream, Jordan Peele’s Nope is a farcical love letter to Hollywood filmmaking. A sci-fi-horror-comedy that builds cinematic myths before casually knocking them over, it’s one of the most effective and purely entertaining summer blockbusters in years, from a studio director at the peak of his craft.”

Whether or not “Nobody” appears as a blu-ray extra or something more, remains to be seen.

Want to read more about Nope? Check out how Nope fits into our best horror films of 2022 so far, as well as what Nope is really about.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

AMD has unveiled its long-awaited Ryzen 7000 series of processors, which will be released on September 27.

Initially teased by AMD back in January during the company's CES 2022 keynote. The new chips also have integrated RDNA 2 graphics, the same graphical architecture found in the Radeon RX 6000 series GPUs, the Steam Deck, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.

The Ryzen 7000 series uses Zen 4 architecture; these are also the first processors by AMD to support the DDR5 RAM but do not include support for DDR4. So, if you are planning to upgrade your processor and motherboard, you will also need to invest in new RAM as well.

Four CPUs make up the Ryzen 7000 line. The Ryzen 9 7950X is the flagship, featuring 16 cores and 32 threads and a boost clock of up to 5.7GHz. The Ryzen 9 7950X will retail for $699. Other processors in the lineup include the $549 Ryzen 9 7900X, the $399 Ryzen 7 7700X, and the Ryzen 5 7600X, which will cost $299.

AMD also confirmed new motherboards to support the Ryzen 7000 series. The AMD X670 and X670E chipsets will be available starting next month, while the AMD B650 and B650E chipset motherboards will arrive a month later.

Besides the expected announcement of new CPUs, AMD also teased its upcoming graphics cards, which will feature RDNA graphical architecture. During the presentation, AMD demoed a pre-production model of its next-gen GPU, pairing it with its flagship Ryzen 7000 processor showing gameplay of Lifes of P running on ultra settings at 4K resolution.

AMD is expected to launch its RDNA 3 graphics cards later this year.

Taylor is the Associate Tech Editor at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.