Neil Gaiman Confronts People Criticizing Him for 'Gender-Swapping' Characters in The Sandman
The Sandman is currently number one on Netflix charts around the world, making dreams come true for Sandman fans who have been waiting 35 years for this adaptation to happen. The show has been praised as “ingenious TV that will inspire an entire generation of goths” and that the entire cast and crew “understood the assignment.” We’ve written our own glowing review here at Esquire, raving about how the show captured the spirit of the comics in a magical way.
But of course, not everyone was pleased with how the show turned out. Despite its masterful storytelling, The Sandman is still subject to criticism from viewers who are still bothered by the show’s casting choices. In case you haven’t read the comics, there were a number of gender and race changes in the show. The characters Lucifer, Lucien, and Johanna from the comics were changed to female characters in the show; and characters Death, Lucienne, Rose Walker, Jedd Walker, and Unity Kincaid were changed from Caucasian to Black in the show.
Read more about The Sandman:
The Sandman Season Two: Everything You Need to Know
'Dreams Don't F—king Die': The Best Quotes From The Sandman
Suffice to say, the loyalists and ultra-conservatives weren’t pleased with the changes, accusing Neil Gaiman of pandering to “woke” viewers and “woke” diversity, as if diversity of any kind is "woke." But as Gaiman has explained in countless interviews, The Sandman cast the best people for the job, the actors who embodied their characters irrespective of how they might have appeared in the 35-year-old comics. Changes were made to be more relevant to the times, but as the show’s number one rankings have proven, these are changes the majority don’t have an issue with.
In a tweet, Gaiman called out subtweet, “I don't appear to have ‘alienated the fans on a massive scale.’ One reason The Sandman appears to be an international hit (currently No. 1 in 89 countries) is that the fans are thrilled with how much The Sandman IS The Sandman and how closely it follows the source.”
On the topic of casting a woman, Gwendoline Christie, as Lucifer, Gaiman had just one mic-drop to say: “The original Lucifer didn't have a gender, so merely getting them played by a human actor is technically gender-swapping them either way.”
And as for having Johanna Constantine replace John Constantine, Gaiman praised Jenna Coleman as the best Constantine to ever grace the screen. Curiously enough, while these critics are having a field day calling out the gender swapping and race swapping of the show, they seem to have no issue with Dream quite literally swapping species in the third volume of the comics. We guess Dream transforming into a cat is more believable than having a Black actress play Death to the Twitter keyboard warriors. Go figure.
In the end, Neil Gaiman isn’t sweating over the “woke” criticism, especially when the sheer viewership of The Sandman is speaking for itself.
The Sandman is now streaming on Netflix.
Read more about The Sandman:
The Sandman: A Complete Guide to the World of the Dreaming (and Beyond)
REVIEW: The Sandman Captures the Spirit of the Comics in a Truly Magical Way
Just Days Since Its Premiere, The Sandman Is the No. 1 Watched Show on Netflix in 89 Countries
