Written by Edwin Francisco
Kate Valdez has won the lead role in Dreamwalker. It is the live-action streaming TV adaptation of Geekosity owner Mikey Sutton’s comic book. Publisher Second Skin Comics released Dreamwalker No. 1 on Valentine’s Day in 2022. Each cover variant sold out immediately online. A year later, Variety announced Dreamwalker will turn into a streaming TV series. Sutton had Dreamwalker modeled after Philippine actress Kate Valdez from the GMA Network. Now Kate Valdez will play her on the show.
London-and Singapore-based 108 Media will produce Dreamwalker. Season One is planned for eight episodes at around 30 minutes each. Officially, their creative team consists of Treb Monteras II (Respeto) as showrunner/director, Mikhail Red (Eerie) as series director, and Kaitlyn Fae Fajilan as head writer.
Sutton is an Executive Producer alongside 108 Media president Justin Deimen, Monteras, Kirstie Contrevida (108 Media content producer), and Abhi Rastogi.
According to Sutton, the Candyskins’ 1991 alternative-rock hit “Submarine Song” planted the seed for Dreamwalker. Sutton recalled:
“There’s a line in the track that says, ‘But I walk through your dreams.’ I loved the imagery. I thought to myself, what if a superhero had that power?”
Kate Valdez Becomes Dreamwalker In TV Adaptation Of Dark Fantasy Comic
Image: Second Skin Comics
In the comics, the story is about Kat. She is a Filipina vlogger who has the ability to enter dreams to defeat monsters in the real world. The live-action version will focus on Kat’s origin story for the first season. Immediately after surviving a bus crash, Kat discovers she can enter the dreams of other people.
Even more, she has the ability to get weapons from their dreams and use them to defeat supernatural beings from Philippine myths and folklore. From dreams to reality, the story turns into a dark fantasy. Because of this premise, Kat gets to explore worlds and overcome challenges to help people in dire situations.
Deimen shared his thoughts about the upcoming program:
“The moment we heard about the concept, we knew how far this could travel as an Asian Buffy [the Vampire Slayer]. The project will be a focal point for Filipino talent across the globe and delivers cultural storytelling in a fresh and commercial way to young audiences locally and regionally. Mikey’s concept coupled with Treb and Mik’s vision and Kaitlyn’s scripts blends fantasy, horror, humor, and high-end action in a way never seen before in Asian television.”
Monteras shares his fascination about the aesthetic style and tone:
“The goal is to create an original mind-blowing series that dives deep into the horrors in our dreams vs. the horrors of our world. We will utilize different mediums and techniques to create breath-taking visuals that capture Philippine folklore’s intricate universe.”
Sutton discovered Kate Valdez in November 21, 2018 while recovering from a near-fatal stroke. He exercised his legs by walking back and forth to the living room. He saw his mother watching Kate Valdez’ soap opera Onanay. His initial look at Valdez stopped him in his tracks. He remembered:
“I was like, who is that? She’s stunning. I looked up Onanay online and posted her photo on Facebook. Her emotionally rich performance and timeless beauty made me declare her the Next Big Thing. I promised her then that I’ll turn her into a comic-book superhero and then a Hollywood star. Mission accomplished.”
One of the comments was from Flores, who asked Sutton if he wanted to interview Valdez for a now-defunct website. Sutton communicated with Valdez that week.
Kate Valdez Becomes Dreamwalker In TV Adaptation Of Dark Fantasy Comic
Image: Facebook
Sutton explained that initially he developed Dreamwalker as a manga-styled girls’ comic. Moreover, it was a comedy. But Sutton admitted he couldn’t make it work:
“I can’t write comedy, at least as a story. One day, Kate recommended Chilling Adventures of Sabrina to me while we were talking. I saw it, and I was hooked. I turned Dreamwalker into horror, and it all clicked.”
Before he saw Valdez, Sutton revealed that he couldn’t picture Kat in his mind. He remembered:
“Kat had no face until Kate. I told Noel to draw her like Kate Valdez.”
Ever since, Sutton did not keep it a secret that Kate Valdez is Dreamwalker‘s muse. As a result, there won’t be any Dreamwalker without Valdez. To have her to star in the TV series is just a vision that comes to life. Thus, she is pure fan-casting that everyone wanted. Including the creator himself.
In addition, the selection of Red as director deeply impressed Sutton. He stated:
“Red’s Eerie influenced the tone and style for Dreamwalker, at least for me.”
Valdez is starring in the science-fiction drama Unica Hija for the GMA Network in the Philippines to massive praise and high ratings, From this, the comics adaptation would be another step into the broader audience reach for Filipinos internationally.