Netflix’s Sandman Series Has Not Gender-Swapped John Constantine

I’ve been seeing a number of outlets report that Netflix’s upcoming The Sandman series has gender-swapped the role of John Constantine.

They’ve been saying this after it was revealed that Jenna Coleman has been cast as Johanna Constantine, and I just wanted to make something very clear.

Johanna Constantine and John Constantine are two different characters and are both in Neil Gaiman’s excellent The Sandman comic book run.

I think I’ve said this on here a number of times before, but I’ll say it again, just in case you didn’t read those articles: I love The Sandman comics.

They are my favourite comic books and Neil Gaiman’s story is the stuff of legend.

I genuinely think that his Sandman comics will be taught in schools and they really should be.

One of the characters in the comics is called Johanna Constantine and she was one of John’s ancestors – she’s his great-great-great-grandmother to be precise.

She was an adventurer, a bit like John, and she often ended up dabbling in the occult.

Why do people think Johanna Constantine is John Constantine?

Credit: DC Comics

Read more: Constantine Rumoured To Be In Netflix’s The Sandman – But He Won’t Be Played By Matt Ryan

Johanna meets Dream in The Sandman comics and ends up helping him, much like John does.

The character was created by Neil Gaiman and he’s spoken about how much he loves the character in the past.

I think that Jenna Coleman is perfect casting for the role, however, she is not playing a female version of John Constantine.

She’s a character in her own right and a brilliant one at that.

Here’s what Neil Gaiman himself had to say about the character and casting Jemma in the role:

Eighteenth Century occult adventuress, John Constantine’s great-great-great grandmother. This Sandman character became so popular that she even had her own spin-off series. I created her to fill the role that John Constantine does in the past. When we broke down the first season, given that we knew that we would be encountering Johanna in the past, we wondered what would happen if we met a version of her in the present as well. We tried it and the script was sparkier, feistier, and in some ways even more fun. So having written her, we just had to cast her. Jenna Coleman (she/her) gave us the Johanna of our dreams – tough, brilliant, tricky, haunted and probably doomed.

Netflix’s The Sandman series will see Jemma Coleman play Johanna Constantine

Credit: DC Comics

Read more: Constantine Could Be Rebooted By Warner Bros. Pictures In A Similar Way To Deadpool

The key phrase there is “I created her to fill the role that John Constantine does in the past”.

See what Neil said there. He said, “in the past”.

The minute I saw Netflix announced that Jenna Coleman was going to be playing Johanna Constantine, I kind of knew people would claim that they’ve gender-swapped John Constantine.

Well, it’s not the case. We still don’t know who Netflix has cast as John in the series.

I was told that Taron Egerton was up for the role.

However, it’s not looking like he passed, which means they will probably announce a younger and probably lesser-known actor in the role.

One thing I know for sure is that Matt Ryan nor Keanu Reeves will be playing John in this Netflix series.

What do you make of this news?

Are you looking forward to watching The Sandman when it finally lands on Netflix?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

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