Neil Gaiman Blasts Sandman Critics Upset About The Series’ Diverse Cast
Neil Gaiman addressed the casting decisions in The Sandman and why changing the gender and look of characters made total sense.
It seems that every project that releases to the masses tries to jump into the diversity mainstream by being inclusive with their cast and attempting to reach as many people as possible, frequently causing backlash from the franchise faithful. This doesn’t seem to bother Neil Gaiman; in an interview with Inverse, The Sandman writer and creator reveals he doesn’t really care what the haters think. And he was firm in standing up with the decisions the series made in adapting the source material to the small screen.
In the interview, the writer of both Lucifer and The Sandman addressed the most controversial things the team brought from the books to the screen; he started with the casting of Kirby Howell-Baptiste, a black actress, to play Death, depicted as a white man in the comics. Gaiman says the casting made sense because the character wasn’t a simple representation but instead appeared the way the person seeing them believed they were supposed to look.
It wasn’t the first time he defended that casting; last year, he was accused of giving zero cares about his books, and he returned that he only cared that way about the people who cared so much about the skin color of the actress. He stated that the ability to portray the character was significant while the skin color wasn’t.
Neil Gaiman went on to discuss The Sandman crew casting a female to play Lucifer, which gained a healthy amount of backlash when they brought in Game of Thrones actor Gwendoline Christie to play the traditionally male-depicted character. Gaiman believes the fans who were up in arms about the casting weren’t real fans because the character of Lucifer in his book is an androgynous character without the designation of male or female, much like a David Bowie-type persona.
He also addressed the fans who were adamant that the show use their favorite lead from the other Neil Gaiman property, Lucifer, Tom Ellis. While he is a beloved character, the writer defends that he is a lovable hero, and The Sandman’s Lucifer needs to inspire fear in the audience.
The final casting choice that Neil Gaiman addressed for The Sandman was bringing in Jenna Coleman as the character Lady Constantine and a character named Joanna Constantine. Many of the fans believed she was cast as a gender-bent version of the DC/Vertigo character John Constantine. Gaiman again said the people who were upset about the casting weren’t real fans because the character is entirely separate from John Constantine and had many adventures of her own in the comics.
While fans may be highly passionate about their comic properties and other long-running film franchises, changing their characters can cause a lot of backlash. Gaiman, however, has little to no time for them, comparing them to racists, homophobic, and anti-vaxxers. Regardless of the ire, Neil Gaiman is basking in the renewal of The Sandman for a Season 2.
