The Sandman

The show focuses heavily on diversity and casting. Characters who were white or male in the comics are swapped. Death, Lucienne, and Rose Walker are race-swapped. Lucienne, Lucifer, and Johanna Constantine are gender-swapped. Major roles are also played by non-binary and trans actors.

Dialogue regularly focuses on modern identity issues. In Season 2, female characters and Death give heavy lectures to Morpheus about his male arrogance and mistakes. The show also has talks about trans identity, and Loki talks about letting women become priests.

Storylines often focus on queer and trans struggles. The show features gay romances, a drag queen household, and a trans character named Wanda. A big story arc in Season 2 forces Morpheus to say sorry over and over for his past controlling behavior toward his black ex-lover, Nada.

Traditional male roles and institutions are attacked. Morpheus is shown as an arrogant man who must constantly be corrected by women. Thor is shown as a stupid, sexist joke. Loki and Puck also break into the Vatican and mock Catholic rules about only having male priests.

Many big changes are made to the original DC comics. Characters like Lucien, Death, Rose Walker, John Constantine, and Lucifer are race-swapped or gender-swapped. This was done to meet modern corporate diversity and representation goals instead of staying true to the original art.

The show faced loud complaints from viewers who disliked the forced diversity. People online criticized the race-swapping of Death and the gender-swapping of Constantine. Many felt the high number of gay and trans characters was too unrealistic.

The show is run by Neil Gaiman and openly gay showrunner Allan Heinberg. Both have a long history of putting queer and trans themes into their work. Feminist director Coralie Fargeat also directed episodes, bringing her history of fighting male power.