At Gwendoline Christie, we believe.
SPOILERS ALERT.
At the end of the first season of ‘The Sandman,’ we find out about Lucifer’s plan to do “something that would leave God livid“But he’s not the only one she’s been bugging lately.
If we look back to when Gwendoline Christie was chosen for her role, a group of closed minds with a mustache and a lot of free time decided to criticize this and other decisions of the casting department, which had to do with a change of gender or ethnicity in some of the characters regarding the comic.
‘The Sandman’ creator Neil Gaiman has since responded to many of these.”haters“using data and sarcasm, in equal parts, to demonstrate the absurdity of the situation:
“How exactly has the character changed? he was asking someone who accused him of changing the original material. “Is it the penis? I get it. Lucifer in the comics doesn’t have a penis, and I don’t think Gwendoline Christie does either. The dialogue is the same… So it must be because Gwendoline is taller than the Lucifer in the comics, right?” TRUE?”
It’s short-sighted to think that Lucifer must be a man in any case, but even more so if we take into account his portrayal of the original comic that is characterized as being androgynous and gender fluid. And what these supposed “fans” are also wrong about is not realizing that the version of Gwendoline is much closer to the comic than many others, including the one previously made by Tom Ellis in the ‘Lucifer’ series.
From the first moment we meet Christie’s Lucifer, in those white robes and devilish black wings, it seems like he’s been pulled straight from the collective mind of Neil Gaiman, Sam Kieth and Mike Dringenberg by Morpheus himself.
Gwendoline is simply Lucifer, body and soul. And it was made perfectly clear, at a Comic-Con panel discussion earlier this year, where she mentioned:
“It can be the strangest thing, with the one that tells you: “this is Lucifer”; that essence, that appearance, the feeling of the Sun on the face, that burning sensation. That is Lucifer.“
However, something that held him back from accepting the role was Tom Ellis’s very recent interpretation of it, in his own show about Lucifer.
“I have a lot of respect for Tom, but I don’t think it would do me any good to watch the show and see someone else’s take on the role of Lucifer. I’ve done research in other areas, because I wanted to make this my own, just like I do with every role I play.”
It wasn’t enough to make his own mark on such an iconic character, he was also going to do it as true to the comics as possible.
In terms of tone, Tom’s version would not fit with the Netflix series ‘Sandman’, no matter how much ‘Lucifer’ fans may complain. The challenging atmosphere that surrounds this new Lucifer is a complete departure from the fresh, playful, and in many cases nudist version that fans have come to love from the other series.
As Gaiman mentioned on Twitter, including Tom back in ‘The Sandman’ wouldn’t have made any sense logistically either. “His Lucifer, despite being inspired by the Lucifer from ‘Sandman’, is completely removed from the ‘Sandman’ continuity by the very end of the character. So it’s better to go back to the original version of the comic, and then you won’t know what Lucifer is going to do. Tom is adorable, anyway.”
As fans will know, the comic book version of Lucifer at one point leaves Hell, abdicating his throne to start a new life in Los Angeles. Together with the inseparable Mazikeen from him, they would have a somewhat “hellish” nightclub in his way. That is the Lucifer we know in the Tom Ellis series, or at least the version inspired by that plot. Christie’s version exists before all that.
Technically, The Sandman’s new approach to Lucifer could lead down that path at some point, but we hope that future adventures keep the tone of Christie, not Ellis. As “lovable” as Lucifer may be, it’s time for a new leader to arise, one that we truly believe has the power to “make God pale and bring Morpheus to his knees.”
The Sandman is now available on Netflix.
Source: Fotogramas
Camila Luna is a writer at Gossipify, where she covers the latest movies and television series. With a passion for all things entertainment, Camila brings her unique perspective to her writing and offers readers an inside look at the industry. Camila is a graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a degree in English and is also a avid movie watcher.
