The Sandman: Neil Gaiman Defends Why Lucifer is Recast and Why Tom Ellis Was Replaced by Gwendoline Christie

Lucifer has been one of the most loved series on Netflix and after its finale, many are looking forward to the return of Tom Ellis as the titular character in any other way. With The Sandman being announced, some thought of his return, however, he was recast and replaced by Gwendoline Christie and Neil Gaiman, the author of the book where the show is based on, defends this decision.

Tom Ellis plays Lucifer Morningstar in the Netflix series, Lucifer, which aired for six seasons before reaching the closure of the curtains. Much recently, Netflix announced that The Sandman series will be happening, an adaptation of the books of Neil Gaiman, and the one playing Lucifer would be Game of Thrones Actress Gwendoline Christie.

In a tweet, Neil Gaiman defended this decision to recast and replace Ellis by Christie, "Because his Lucifer, while inspired by the Lucifer in Sandman, is so far away in terms of Sandman continuity by the end of LUCIFER, that it's easier on everyone to go back to the version in the comics. And this way you don't know what our Lucifer is going to do. Tom's is lovable."

Known for her character in Game of Thrones, Gwendoline Christie will be playing Lucifer, the fallen angel ruling Hell. Despite being depicted as a male in the comics and in various biblical lore, Lucifer is also of angelic sexless origin which could leave Christie as to how she would be interpreting the character and its gender.

The Sandman will be revolving around the god of dreams, Dream of the Endless, which transcends the boundaries of human comprehension. It will be circling around the stories of how Morpheus, the Dream King, is captured and he learns that change is inevitable.

Joining Christie in the film would be Tom Sturridge who will take the lead role of Sandman, Dream of the Endless, and Viviene Acheampong who will be Lucienne, chief librarian of The Dreaming, whose character is also a male in the comics as Lucien.

Boyd Holbrook will be The Corinthian, an escaped nightmare, who will be haunting the dreams who broke away and went to the waking world. Charles Dance, co-actor of Christie in Game of Thrones, will be Roderick Burgess, a human magician, and charlatan.

Sanjeev Bhaskar will portray Cain and Asim Chaudhry will be his brother, Abel, whose characters are pulled straight out the Bible as the sons of Adam and Eve, and will be in The Dreaming as the first murderer and the first victim.

The Sandman is yet to have a release date but it is expected to arrive on Netflix this year. Netflix Geeked Week will hopefully feature more information about the series.