Neil Gaiman Defends Sandman Show Casting Nonbinary, Black Actors
Author and comics writer Neil Gaiman defended the casting choices for the upcoming Netflix series The Sandman. The show is based on a comic of the same name written by Gaiman and distributed by DC, telling the story of Dream, aka Morpheus, the anthropomorphic personification of dreams. After Dream is captured, he must contend with a changing world and a kingdom he no longer recognizes. The Sandman is filled with Gaiman's trademarks, from the personification of metaphysical concepts to the stunning worldbuilding and wit.
After COVID created months of production delays, Netflix finally announced twelve new cast members for the series. The cast list included The Good Place's Kirby Howell-Baptiste as Death and Mason Alexander Park as Desire. These casting choices sparked controversy online from people who claimed they went against the original comic book's vision. Complaints primarily focused on a Black woman playing Death and Desire being played by a non-binary performer (Park uses they/them pronouns). In the comics, Desire is written as non-binary, and Death is portrayed as an impossibly pale young woman.
Neil Gaiman responded to the backlash on his Twitter account to put fans in their place regarding the casting decisions. One user claimed Gaiman was selling out by agreeing to these casting choices and stated that the writer must not "give a f**k" about his work. Gaiman replied that he gives "all the f**ks" about his work but gave "zero f***s" about people who don't understand his work and are upset that Desire is non-binary or "Death isn't white enough."
Gaiman confirmed that Desire is also non-binary in the comics, suggesting that most people who are upset about these casting choices aren't concerned about the sanctity of the original story like they claim to be. Complaints about diversity in casting are nothing new, and people often use the claim of "staying true" to the source material to argue for less diversity. But this time, Gaiman started a discussion on Twitter about the importance of diversity in storytelling, with Sandman readers coming forward to says the first time they had encountered the concept of people being non-binary was in the pages of Gaiman's work.
Despite the detractors, overall responses to the casting choices have been positive. The show has been filming for some time now, even with pandemic-related setbacks and protection measures in place. Neil Gaiman has successfully translated some of his other properties to film and TV, often playing with casting choices to diversify the characters. Good Omens and American Gods used diverse casting choices and were met with great success, signaling that The Sandman is already on the right track.
Source: Neil Gaiman via Twitter