Netflix Sandman Cast Revealed - Let the fanwanking begin...

I have to admit to mixed feelings about this. The source material is visual in nature and some of the character designs are iconic. At the same time, I can see some need to shake things up a bit. There are aspects of the original Vertigo release that are pretty dated.

 

So I take it looking critically at the creative choices made for this production is wrong? I've obviously offended some people so there's nothing to lose at this point. As I noted in the header, this is an adaptation of something that was initially presented in a visual format. Is this and the recent decision to cast a Black woman as Anne Boelyn weird exercises in stunt casting for woke points?

 

I see the pronouns under each actor's name.

At some point do actors not get roles if they don't agree to be attached to pronouns in promotional materials?

 

More woke stuff. Taking this (or any act of protest) to ridiculous levels subverts the very good reasons to do this in the first place.

 

Going to go there. This is tokenism! Are the showrunners white? Is Gaiman giving revenue to help fund more projects by people of color? There may be some degree of good faith. In the meantime, stories by, for, and about people of color remain untold. One other thing... None of the male characters diverge from their original forms. This is so cynical and obvious.

 

I don’t know anything about the show, from where it was derived or any original sources but if there is a character in Sandman named Anne Boleyn and it is the historical person of the same name should an attempt be made to find an actress who resembles Anne? They wouldn’t cast a 6’8” 300 pound man to the part. Or even Daniel Day-Lewis.

if the name is merely coincidental, then the producers can do what they want. But if it’s related to the actual person maybe it matters. OTOH in a biopic of Rasputin, maybe Awkwafina is the best actor to portray him.

 

I don't know the source material well enough to know which characters were changed. It could be stunt casting. It could be a genuine decision to put more diversity in the story. The first issue of Sandman was published in 1989. It is possible Gaiman and whoever else is in control of the show see more of a need for inclusivity than he did over 30 years ago. Perhaps they just chose the best actor regardless of color.

 

I'm sure there is some of that, but Oscar's complaint seems to be more that it is stunt casting.

 

To address some points: I'm sorry. I was unclear. That's on me. There is a three-part mini-series about Anne Boelyn. Here is the actor they chose for the title role:



Jodie Turner is beautiful and extremely talented. However, this is deliberately stupid casting. Anyone who isn't all-in with this is immediately a racist. Nope. It's not good casting.

Now, about Gaiman and Scalzi and anyone who shares their view on this: No. You go fuck yourselves.

Here is a very typical image of Death from one of the many galleries published over the years:



Aside from the pronoun nonsense, it might occur to those of us playing at home that Gaiman did not bother to tweak the ethnic identities of any of the male characters. It would have made much more sense to cast Dream as a person of color than Death. Dream has taken on far more diverse identities than his older sister. As I said earlier, this smacks of tokenism and stunt casting. There are also elements of making sure all the scary Black people aren't you know, male and scary. Can you imagine Daveed Diggs as The Corinthian?



He could pull off Andrew Scott as Moriarty levels of creepy and scary.

Sorry if it disappoints some that I'm not all-in. The press release with the pronouns was the tipoff. This is either a cynical attempt at making the source material appealing to the Woke crowd or it's the work of privileged White people who think adding a few small gestures gets them off the hook. As I said before: Blackwashing the stories of White people means there are stories by, about, and for Black people that are going untold.

 

Gaiman has posted a few things making fun of any controversy regarding the casting of the show.