[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for The Sandman.]

After more than three decades and many failed attempts, the beloved award-winning DC comic series The Sandman has finally been brought to life as a 10-episode drama for Netflix, developed and executive produced by author Neil Gaiman, showrunner Allan Heinberg, and David. S. Goyer. Set in a world where the Master of Dreams, aka The Sandman (Tom Sturridge), must travel across different worlds and timelines to restore the order that devolved while he was held prisoner for over a century, he's required to visit old friends, foes and family from his vast existence, in order to re-balance the dreaming and waking worlds.

During this interview with Collider, co-stars Gwendoline Christie (who plays Lucifer, ruler of Hell), Kirby Howell-Baptiste (who plays Death, the wisest of the Endless family), and Jenna Coleman (who plays Johanna Constantine, a necromancer who works as an Exorcist for hire) talked about what they each found most appealing about their characters, finding the humanistic qualities of Death, which death scene was particularly emotional, bringing Lucifer to life in stature and wardrobe, whether Lucifer respects Dream, finding the vulnerability of Johanna Constantine, and what an Endless family dinner might look like.

Collider: Dream is a fascinating character, but I have to say that your characters really are my favorite trio. What did you enjoy most about the character that you played? Was there one trait or something you got to do that just really represented them for you?

GWENDOLINE CHRISTIE: I really loved having wings. It does take you to another realm, really. It’s a combination of realizing that you’ve got to somehow root the character and also feeling quite fabulous.

And they are fabulous.

CHRISTIE: Thank you.

JENNA COLEMAN: I like Johanna’s wryness and cynicism and wit and how unimpressed she is with everything. That was a lot of fun. I also equally very much loved hiding her cross in a boot. I like that she’s very much a tradesperson and working woman, and that she’s got all these tricks and tools at hand. I don’t have wings, but I do have a cross.

KIRBY HOWELL-BAPTISTE: I love Death’s rhythm. In general, I speak very quickly and people have a very hard time understanding me, but I feel like this is a character that was slow and steadfast, and who found a way to impart information in a way that people could understand and relate to. That is a quality that I would love to have myself.

Kirby, what was it like to figure out how to embody and represent Death? That just seems so impossible to try to do, and yet she also seems like the most normal character when we meet her.

HOWELL-BAPTISTE: Yeah. I was really fortunate, in that the setting that we were presented with was so in opposition to who we are. We’re two endless beings, Death and Dream, just strolling around London, affecting people’s lives. Just having something as mundane as going for a walk in the park juxtaposed against something as big as discussing life and death and our purpose here, helped ground the character, hugely. When you’re dealing with something that’s a concept, you can’t look at it that way. You have to find the humanistic qualities. I was so fortunate because so many of the humanistic qualities are there in the comic, and I would constantly refer to those. She’s a nurturer, she’s maternal, she’s caring, and she takes her job very seriously, which is being there at the very end, so that people aren’t scared, and they have comfort in going into the next phase of their life or afterlife.

What was it like to do the episodes with her coming across all of these different people and having those different dynamics with each of them. Watching it, you really find yourself thinking about how, no matter how old the person is, it’s just always too soon.

HOWELL-BAPTISTE: Absolutely. I don’t think anyone is ever ready, and anyone who says that they are is lying. It’s a whole interesting conversation that we explore in the story, which is even if you think you’re ready, there’s always more to see and there’s always more that you’ll want to do. I found it particularly emotional, actually, the scene that Tom [Sturridge] and I did with the older gentleman with the violin. I found that was such a tough day, genuinely, because he was such an amazing, sweet, gentle actor. When you’re playing a role like Death, obviously you’re an actor on set, but I’m playing something that is very, very real, and very real for every single person in the room. That was a very, very emotional day. There was a different relationship with everyone in my story, but that one, in particular, was a very, very emotional day.

And so interesting, the way each encounter was shot. With the infant, we don’t see as much of the child.

HOWELL-BAPTISTE: And I say the lines, yeah. In the comic, the kid says them.

And she wants to leave before the grief of the mother. I just thought that the way that each one was handled was so well done.

HOWELL-BAPTISTE: Yeah. Well, thank you.

Gwendoline, what’s it like to tackle Lucifer? The thing that’s so great about a character like Lucifer is that you can bring in all of that evil side, but then she also seems to really love it. Is it fun to intertwine the evil with just having a great time?

CHRISTIE: I suppose that’s part of it. What Neil [Gaiman] does so well in the comics, and that Allan [Heinberg] has translated brilliantly to the show, is that he very often plays against type. Just when you think know exactly what something is, he turns it on its head. And I felt that having this portrayal as my portrayal of Lucifer, is what made sense to me. If you’re God’s favorite, and you’re cast out and have to live for the rest of your life as being in a state of rejection, you may as well try to derive some pleasure from the misery. I think that’s what Lucifer does. I think Lucifer finds a way to take deep pleasure from what’s occurring because they’re just so bored. They’re bored of having to torture masochists. There’s nowhere to go. There’s no range. There’s not the spectrum of hope. There isn’t the all-encompassing transformation of love. It’s absence. That’s really what I’ve found with Lucifer. So, it’s a great pleasure for the actor, for me, to play it, but essentially, it’s hollow.

I just want a fashion spinoff with Lucifer.

CHRISTIE: Yeah, why not?! Lucifer going into shops and asking for Versace. It’s all possible.

And then, just torturing people who don’t give her the right . . .

CHRISTIE: Size?

Yes!

CHRISTIE: I was very lucky, Allan and I talked about how we wanted to present Lucifer. I’m really grateful to Allan and Neil because they came to me with this great respect, and with great respect for what my ideas might be, and that is a huge privilege. They also decided to ask my partner, Giles Deacon, to design my costumes, which he was really excited about, and I was too. He’s a hugely celebrated legendary designer, who I happen to love very much, but also was able to see me in an intuitive, quick way. He has a desire to make me look as appropriate and fabulous as possible. We all loved the idea of the fallen angel being presented in that way, magisterial, and then moving into something harder and more brutal. I did feel transformed by the costumes.

It feels like Dream has some respect for Lucifer. Do you think Lucifer has any respect for a Dream?

CHRISTIE: Yeah, I think that Lucifer does because that’s why they feel he’s a worthy opponent. Ultimately, they think they’re gonna win, but that’s what’s interesting about what unfolds. Seeing a bloodless, manipulative, bureaucratic monster being challenged by a seemingly lesser power is always interesting to see.

Jenna, with your character, we get to learn so much about her through this relationship that we see her living through. What was that like to get to explore, and what do you think that brings out in her, that she wouldn’t necessarily reveal on her own?

COLEMAN: In terms of Rachel? Everything I think about Johanna is that it’s all about trying to hide and using armor, so that people can’t really see. When she meets Dream, he comes straight in, not only to her actual dreams, where he sees her at her most wounded, but also at her most vulnerable, which is the cost of love, and particularly the cost of love for her because anybody that she comes close to dies or gets hurt. Knowing that you’re the person who will injure the ones that you love, you have to armor yourself and hide so that you don’t hurt people anymore. I think we see all the chinks and the chains and the weariness and the cost and the torture of what it means for her to be Johanna Constantine, the Exorcist.

What does she think of someone like Dream, who really does make her face things that she would rather avoid?

COLEMAN: I love that dynamic so much because I feel like there’s such a power play and a stubbornness. I don’t think she’s someone that will let someone know, if she feels impressed by them, so there’s this undercurrent that she’s amused by him as well. It’s using humor to try to find his chinks and break him, whilst having a real respect and intrigue. She’s met many demons. It’s part of her day-to-day job. She’s met many characters from other realms. But with him, I think she’s enticed by him, but at the same time, trying to run away. It’s a battle of the ego and a battle of the wits, and yet, she likes him.

Seeing Death and Dream together, it just made me wonder what family dinner with the Endless would be like.

COLEMAN: That’d be great scene.

What do you think getting all of them together for a family gathering would be like? It just really seems like that would not be good for anybody.

HOWELL-BAPTISTE: I think it would be pandemonium, but I think it would be extremely entertaining.

Would they even survive it?

HOWELL-BAPTISTE: I think they’d survive it. They’re literally the Endless. I don’t think you’re getting rid of any of them. I don’t know if egos will survive it, but I think they, as endless beings, will survive it. There is so much conflict and richness within that family. There’s absolutely so much more to explore there.

What do you think Death thinks of the rest of family?

HOWELL-BAPTISTE: There are parts of Death that I think are similar to my boyfriend, which are very “come as you are.” If you’re someone or something that is as omnipotent and omnipresent as Death, individual idiosyncrasies are something that you just accept. When you have seen as many worlds and lives as Death has seen, and as many different humans, you realize that humanity is flawed in its nature, but there are also billions of people and no two are the same. If you’re Death, you’ve seen that, time and time again, so you understand it. You accept people for who they are, even if they’re members of your family, like Desire, who really love to stir the pot.

I don’t know if it was intentional in your performance, but there’s something so interesting in watching Death because the character feels so centered and so at peace. I wonder if that’s just because she knows what is inevitable for everyone.

HOWELL-BAPTISTE: Yeah, I think there is peace to be found, even as us not being endless beings, in recognizing that we all have an expiration date and there’s nothing you have that you can take with you. You may as well enjoy the time that you’ve got because you really don’t know how long you have. If you can keep that sense of understanding, it helps, in a very weird way, to keep you very present.

Gwendoline, by the end of the season, Lucifer just feels very pissed off. What do you think it is that Lucifer wants next?

CHRISTIE: I think Lucifer is bored rigid with Lucifer’s lot, and I think Lucifer is really annoyed that they lost that battle. I can’t go into what Lucifer wants next, but I think it feels like Lucifer wants blood.

And it feels like there would be some great wardrobe to go along with that, when that does happen.

CHRISTIE: You may think that. I couldn’t possibly comment.

The Sandman is available to stream at Netflix.