Neil Gaiman and Cast on Why Netflix Changes ‘Make Sense’

The Sandman recreates Neil Gaiman’s iconic comic book series in a new era, with a lovingly accurate adaptation that makes some small changes to the original that the creator felt “made a lot of sense,” he told Newsweek.

Fans of the comic will notice that a lot of the changes are, for the most part, small moments that viewers won’t necessarily pick up on, but also do, in fact, make sense as Gaiman said.

One such change, for example, appears in the show’s fourth episode “A Hope in Hell” in which Dream (Tom Sturridge) goes to Hell to meet its ruler Lucifer (Gwendoline Christie) to get back his stolen helm from a demon, but the only way to have it returned is to engage in a verbal combat.

In the comics, Dream goes head-to-head against the demon Choronzon but in the show it is Christie’s Lucifer who faces him instead.

Of this change, Gaiman told Newsweek: “Some of the changes, a lot of the changes, honestly, are made for a kind of televisual economy, which may sound rather silly but, honestly, if you’re hiring Gwendoline Christie, and you’ve got Gwendoline Christie there, you might as well have Gwendoline Christie do the big important stuff, rather than have her stand off to one side and watch because you’ve got Gwendoline Christie and why wouldn’t you?”

Two Johanna Constantines for the Price of One

In a similar sense, Jenna Coleman portrays not one but two versions of the character Johanna Constantine, one in the 18th century and her modern day ancestor. The present iteration of Johanna Constantine meets Dream in “Dream a Little Dream of Me” and her story is largely based on the arc John Constantine has in the Sandman comics.

Gaiman has previously stipulated that the modern Johanna Constantine is not a gender-swapped John, but he said to Newsweek: “The same, for me, was Jenna Coleman, we knew that we were going to have Lady Johanna Constantine back in the 18th century, we knew that she will be turning up in the part.

“We know that in Season 2, if we get there, she’ll be on the run with a human head in the French Revolution. So, it made a lot of sense to go well we’ve got her there, why not use a modern version of her here and use the same actress, rather than create a whole new [character]?

“The audience has no more, they’re not any…