Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman is one of the most well-regarded comic runs of all time. The epic series tells the story of the Endless, an immortal family that personifies basic elements of reality. The focus is on the Lord of Dreams (aka Morpheus/Dream/The Sandman), whose journey takes him across history, through weird dimensions and into hell itself.
After many failed film and TV projects, Netflix and Gaiman are successfully forging ahead with a faithful adaptation of the comic arcs. Tom Sturridge will play Morpheus, Gwendoline Christie is Lucifer and Charles Dance is Roderick Burgess. But you can now add several other names to that list, as Variety has just revealed the rest of the cast.
Among others, Kirby Howell-Baptiste will play Death, Mason Park is Desire, Donna Preston is Despair, David Thewlis is John Dee, Stephen Fry is Gilbert and Jenna Coleman is Johanna Constantine, with the full sheet below revealing all of the new additions:
Now, for the record, Johanna Constantine is a completely separate character from John Constantine, being his ancestor from the 18th century. And as this adapts the first comic arc, we should also see the familiar blonde male antihero, too. He’s currently played in the Arrowverse by Matt Ryan, with his well-liked performance having many fans quietly hopeful that he’ll make the jump to this Netflix show. Personally, I think it’s unlikely, but you never know.
Either way, it’ll be fun to see Coleman as Johanna Constantine, who was an aristocrat and adventurer given occult tasks by King George III. She tangled with Dream and his friend Hob Gadling in 1789, theorizing that they were the Devil and the Wandering Jew. That meeting was antagonistic, though Dream recognized Johanna’s talents and later called her into service in rescuing his son from the French Revolution.
The Sandman has been filming for a while now and is expected to wrap up next month. It’s set to arrive in 2022, so a full unveiling could be a way off yet. Let’s hope we get a glimpse of Coleman in full Johanna Constantine gear before then, though.