The Sandman's new teaser shows Morpheus free and ready to rebuild his kingdom

At long last, The Sandman finally has a release date. As part of Netflix Geeked Week, the streaming platform launched a new teaser for their upcoming TV adaptation of the iconic dark fantasy comic created by Neil Gaiman, Sam Kieth, and Mike Dringenberg. The teaser reveals that The Sandman will launch on Netflix this August.

The first teaser for The Sandman, which debuted last fall, showed the immortal dream king Morpheus (Tom Sturridge) being imprisoned by human sorcerers like Roderick Burgess (Charles Dance). It's not a spoiler to say Morpheus doesn't stay locked up forever, and indeed this new teaser shows him breaking free and returning to kingdom.

Unfortunately for Morpheus, he's been gone a long time, and the Dreaming is now in ruins. He's set on reclaiming his rule over dreams and nightmares, but what will the other powers-that-be make of that? Morpheus is also known as Dream, and the new teaser gives us brief glimpses of his immortal siblings Death (Kirby Howell-Baptiste) and Desire (Mason Alexander Park), as well as the human John Dee (David Thewlis). Dee holds the magical ruby that was one of Morpheus' prized possessions before his imprisonment. What will he use it for? Nothing good.

The news of Morpheus' return is conveyed to Johanna Constantine (Jenna Coleman) by the eccentric drifter Mad Hettie. Readers of The Sandman comic will remember that Johanna was originally portrayed as the ancestor of DC Comics icon John Constantine, and therefore only appeared in flashback issues like the French Revolution-set "Thermidor." It looks like things have changed in the adaptation and Johanna is now a living character in the present day. Will this version of the character be an ally or an antagonist of the Dream King? Only time will tell.

One character we don't have to ask that question about is the living nightmare known as the Corinthian (Boyd Holbrook), who appears near the end of the teaser with his back to the viewer. The Corinthian muses aloud that his old master is "out of his cage," and he doesn't seem too happy about it. But why don't we see his eyes? Well, if you know you know.

Though he doesn't appear in the teaser, Netflix did announce that the Dreaming's resident janitor and handyman, the sarcastic Mervyn Pumpkinhead, will be voiced by none other than Mark Hamill.

The Sandman hits Netflix on Aug. 5. Watch the new teaser above, and revisit EW's Summer Preview interview with Gaiman and Sturridge about how Morpheus is changed by his imprisonment.

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