The Sandman is no doubt finding legions of fans at the moment as it continues to dominate Netflix’s most popular list. Critics and fans alike are praising the performances of the actors who bring the many fantastical characters of the series to life, from the most terrifying inhabitants of the dream world to the mortals troubled by the plans and plots of Dream and his siblings The Endless.
Despite its newfound popularity, the source material of the new series has been around for years. The idea of a major film or TV series has been the source of speculative fan-casting for literal decades now, and many have formed definitive ideas as to how the characters should look in real life, and even who should play them. With that being said, let’s take a hard look at just how faithfully the characters from the comic book source material resemble their new on-screen counterparts.
Dream
In Tom Sturridge, the show managed to find an actor that resembled the comic book character so much that he often appears as though he walked off the pages of the original comic book source material. Dream’s comic appearance was heavily influenced by the goth subculture of the 1980s and artist Dave McKean based his appearance on the cover of Sandman number one on seminal dark wave frontman and Bauhaus lead singer, Peter Murphy, and Sturridge looks like he’d be just as at home playing the singer in a biopic as he is playing the lord of dreams.
There are two major differences between Dream’s series look and his comic appearance. The series opted not to go with the sclera-less black eyes Dream has in the comic book run and though Sturridge is definitely pale, his skin doesn’t have the ivory white appearance of his comic counterpart.
The Corinthian
While the producers made slight changes to Dream’s onscreen appearance, The Corinthian couldn’t be more like his comic book version, looks-wise. Boyd Holbrook looks exactly like the comic book character with the only difference between the two being Holbrooks’s slight Southern Gent spin of the role (the comic book version was a bit more like a charming New Wave rockstar).
Lucienne/Lucien
The first of our list to undergo some significant changes from their comic book appearance, Lucienne (known as Lucien in the comics) was reimagined as a woman of color. But other than the change in gender and race, the character is essentially the same, functioning not only as the keeper of The Dreaming’s vast library but also as Dream’s de facto majordomo and the person who helped keep the Dreaming together during its monarch’s long absence. Lucienne also sports a bald head though she does retain the pointed ears of her comic book self, giving her a fey-like appearance.
John Dee
The difference between the comic book John Dee and the series character is easily one of the most dramatic. David Thewlis, who portrays Dee, looks more or less like himself in the series, although he’s a bit the worse for wear after spending many years in a mental institution. The comic book character’s appearance on the other hand is downright horrifying.
In the comic (which had a much more significant connection to the mainstream DC comics of the time in its first volume) Dee was a supervillain and foe of the Justice League who went by the name of Doctor Destiny. He created a device called the Materioptikon (later retconned to be Morpheus’ ruby) that allowed him to affect others’ dreams but was defeated by the League and sent to Gotham’s Arkham Asylum. Using the ruby for so long took a horrible toll on Dee’s body and he was skeletally emaciated with rotted teeth and an almost corpse-like face. The producers may have felt this was a step too far into horror movie territory and opted to go with Thewlis’ real-life appearance as a sensible alternative.
Constantine
Instead of utilizing the character of John Constantine, who has appeared in a TV series of his own as well as various other DC properties, Gaiman reimagined her as a descendant of Johanna Constantine, John’s ancestor, who appeared several times throughout The Sandman comics. As per the series, Johanna resembles her 18th-century counterpart right down to her name. And unlike John, Johanna is fashionable in appearance and practically posh whereas John is never seen without his threadbare and rumpled trench coat and appears to reek of cigarettes even on the page. Johanna has her own trench coat but it looks like it cost several thousand pounds at Harrods rather than simply being abandoned in a dustbin.
Lucifer
A small coterie of online grumblers has made an issue over Lucifer’s gender swap, but the vast majority of critics have praised Gwendoline Christie’s portrayal of the monarch of Hell, Lucifer Morningstar. In the comics, artists Sam Kieth and Mike Dringenberg based Lucifer’s appearance on that of David Bowie as per Neil Gaiman’s request. The look was specifically inspired by his pre-Ziggy Stardust period when he was flouting gender norms, sporting long hair and a dress-like garment designed by British fashion designer Michael Fish. Gaiman intended Lucifer’s appearance to be angelic and agender from the start.
While Christie’s appearance may not be a dead ringer for Bowie, her commanding presence makes her a more than apt portrayer for the fallen angel.
Death
And then there’s Death. No character’s “change” in appearance was met with more online scrutiny and downright reactionary hue and cry than Death. The character, who was easily the breakout star character of the comic series, has typically been portrayed as a young, slender, white woman who affected a gothic fashion sense and sported an “eye of Ra” styled eyeliner design on one of her eyes.
When Killing Eve star Kirby Howell-Baptiste was cast in the role, a small but vocal contingent expressed their outrage but was quickly shut down by creator Gaiman, who reminded us that Death has always appeared to many people in many different aspects (Dream himself is perceived by his ex-lover Nada as a black man when he encounters her in Hell in both the comics and the series). Despite any online gnashing of teeth, Howell-Baptiste has been praised for her performance with her episode being one of the series’ most popular.
Rose Walker
Though she isn’t seen until the middle of the series, Rose Walker is the principal character of the show’s second half. Despite being portrayed in the series by a Black woman, Kyo Ra’s portrayal is almost identical to the comics’ character in all other ways, right down to her eclectic fashion sense and multicolor hair.
Lyta Hall/Hector Hall
Lyta and Hector Hall present two of the more difficult characters to bring to the screen. In the comics, the pair already existed in the DC mainstream comics universe as the superheroes Fury and Silver Scarab. As the series took a hard lean away from the story aspect that featured superheroes (or DC Comics for the most part) the two were simply re-imagined as a loving married couple separated by Hector’s death in an accident prior to the series beginning. Hector was portrayed by Jamaican-Welsh actor Lloyd Everitt, whereas in the comics Hector is white. Actress Razane Jammal differs from Lyta’s comic book appearance in one striking respect: while Jammal has dark hair, Lyta’s appearance in the comics is notable for her long white hair.
Desire
Death’s younger sibling Desire is another example of a character that may as well have walked directly from the pages of the comic book to the series screen. Aside from being a blonde, Mason Alexander Park is a spot-on dead ringer for the comic book version of the genderfluid member of The Endless.
Despair
The desire (excuse the pun) to go in a different direction for the appearance of Despair, Desire’s twin and Dream and Death’s sibling, is understandable. The comic version of the character is generally portrayed as naked or nearly so and is often shown with a monstrous demeanor. However, body positivity advocates have questioned and been disappointed by the choice to portray Despair as an overweight woman in crocs. The choice seems to many to be not only uninspired but even a hurtful stereotype equating fatness with depression.
Gilbert/Fiddler’s Green
Gilbert / Fiddler’s Green #TheSandman #TheSandmanNetflix #TheSandmanComic pic.twitter.com/kC8sKDzKxt
— sic itur ad astra (@the13thgay) August 9, 2022
Gilbert, also known by his name in The Dreaming, Fiddler’s Green, was yet another casting coup for The Sandman team. The character was originally based on idiosyncratic English writer and philosopher G. K. Chesterton and resembles him right down to his traveling cloak and walking stick. British comedian and character actor Stephen Fry resembles Chesterton as much as the comic character, making him a perfect catch and a grand slam for the series casting team. Gaiman’s own friendship with the actor probably helped bring him aboard as well.