The Sandman Universe began in August 2018, with a titular one-shot, which was followed by four ongoing series—House of Whispers, Lucifer, Books of Magic, and The Dreaming.

The line was conceived and is overseen by the series' creator, Neil Gaiman, but produced by new creative teams.

[3] The line was announced by Entertainment Weekly in March 2018 and was accompanied by a trailer featuring Gaiman.

Gaiman cited Nalo Hopkinson's science fiction work as an influence for assigning her to House of Whispers.

Gaiman chose Kat Howard, who he has worked with for several years, to reboot The Books of Magic because of her handling of magic in her stories, and Dan Watters to write Lucifer because he was up to the challenge of recreating the character.