What happens to a dream deferred? Despite it being announced for development last September, a proposed television series based on Neil Gaiman's "Sandman" is not currently in development, would-be showrunner Eric Kripke tells The Hollywood Reporter.

“Unfortunately," says Kripke, "for a lot of varying reasons, Sandman is not in the works, at least for this season... hopefully we can do it again in the future.”

Sandman, which launched DC Comic's Vertigo imprint, ran for 75 issues beginning in 1989. Gaiman's worlds-within-worlds weaved an episodic anthology, focusing on the allegorical character of Dream and his brothers and sisters, known as the Endless (Death, Desire, Despair, Delirium, Destruction and Destiny).

The delay and/or cancellation of the project, while disappointing, should come as no surprise for fans of the series who have, unfortunately, become accustomed to false starts.