Earlier today, Neil Gaiman revealed a list of twelve new cast members for the upcoming Netflix show The Sandman, which is based off (and shares the same name as) Gaiman’s comic book series. Gaiman characterized The Sandman as “a rich blend of modern myth and dark fantasy in which contemporary fiction, historical drama and legend are seamlessly interwoven.”
In a blog post written for Netflix, Gaiman announced the new actors/actresses and their respective characters, while also providing a brief description of those characters. He also included each actor or actress’s preferred pronouns for fans to use when referring to that person.
Here are the new cast members and their characters presented in the order Gaiman revealed them in the blog post (actors 8-12 are part of The Doll’s House, the second major Sandman storyline):
1. Kirby Howell-Baptiste (she/her) as Death, “Dream’s nicer, wiser, and more sensible sister.”
2. Mason Alexander Park (they/them) as Desire, “Dream’s sibling and everything you want, whatever you want and whoever you are.”
3. Donna Preston (she/her) as Despair, Dream’s twin sister
4. Jenna Coleman (she/her) as Johanna Constantine, “tough, brilliant, tricky, haunted, and probably doomed.”
5. Niamh Walsh (she/her) as a young Ethel Cripps, “a betrayed and determined young woman seeking to survive”
6. Joely Richardson (she/her) as an older Ethel Cripps, “a woman of a hundred identities and a thousand lies”
7. David Thewlis (he/him) as John Dee, Ethel’s “dangerous” son
8. Kyo Ra (she/her) as Rose Walker, a woman desperate to find her missing brother and discovers family she did not know about
9. Razane Jammal (she/her) as Lyta Hall, “Rose’s friend and a young widow mourning her husband Hector”
10. Sandra James Young (she/her) as Unity Kinkaid, and heiress and Rose’s “mysterious benefactor” who’s been sleeping for a century
11. Stephen Fry (he/him) as Gilbert, Rose’s “debonair protector”
12. Patton Oswalt (he/him) voicing Matthew, emissary to Dream and also a raven
At the end of his blog post, Gaiman wrote, “Of course, there are more delights and nightmares cast than I’ve listed here, and we have a few more secrets up our sleeves.” So be on the look out for more news about The Sandman! The Netflix Geeked Twitter account also posted this list as a thread on their feed with a headshot of each new cast member.
FEATURED IMAGES VIA PENN BOOK CENTER AND DEN OF GEEK