The Sandman received huge critical and audience success for its adaptation of the comics, but one character improvement will make season 2 better.
Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman was a huge success, but one character change will make season 2 even better. Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman comics were adapted into a Netflix series in August 2022, and quickly become one of Netflix’s most popular English language shows. The Sandman season 1 adapts the first two volumes of Gaiman’s DC comics and stars Tom Sturridge as Dream of the Endless, Boyd Holbrook as The Corinthian, Kirby Howell-Baptsiste as Death, and Jenna Coleman as Johanna Constantine. The Sandman mainly switches between Earth and the Dreaming realm, as well as different periods of Dreams life, and the different realms of Dream’s sibling’s realms.
Dream has six siblings: Despair, Desire, Death, Destruction, Delirium, and Destiny, although not all have been shown so far in The Sandman season 1. Some siblings have close individual relationships, such as Dream and Death, but the seven altogether are much more turbulent. Despair’s Netflix appearance differs from The Sandman comics, in which she does not appear massively, and she appears much more in the Netflix series, particularly with her twin brother, Desire. Desire and Despair are as powerful as their siblings, but Despair’s character image has since been hit with criticism, and audiences hope for this to be rectified in The Sandman season 2.
Sandman Season 2’s Changes Address Season 1 Criticisms
One criticism of The Sandman season 1 was how Despair’s depiction as a plus-sized woman was in fact the only plus-sized representation on the show. A critique was that Despair is represented as “frumpy, depressed, and not really loved by anyone” which, as the only plus-sized character, is a degrading image. Although Despair is one of the powerful Endless, her image does not make her seem that way and puts her below the other Endless which is only emphasized by her lack of character development.
Gaiman’s response to this critique was extremely positive, admitting that The Sandman season 1 made a mistake in how Despair was represented and they “missed what we were aiming for”. Gaiman said he hoped that “the next time you see Despair on the screen you won’t think of her as frumpy, depressed and unloved” which implies The Sandman season 2 is taking a conscious approach to developing Despair’s character and future. Also, Gaiman’s response adds assurance there will be more, better plus-sized representation in The Sandman season 2 proving efforts are being taken to listen to, and counter-act criticisms.
Why Sandman’s Future Despair Story Is Hopeful For The Netflix Show
The Sandman taking efforts to improve Despair’s image and develop the character is hopeful for the Netflix show. Despair does not feature heavily in the comics currently being adapted, so it would be easy for her to be a secondary character used to support Desire, but it would mean The Sandman would miss out on huge story potential. Despair possesses great and dark powers just like her siblings, and she could be a particularly interesting character now that The Sandman is choosing to put effort into Despair. In doing this, the impact it would have on plus-size representation would be extremely positive and hopefully influence other TV shows.
Also, the effort being put into Despair’s development, and plus-size representation as a whole, on The Sandman shows the lengths Gaiman is going to in order to build a strong future for the Netflix show. Gaiman’s decision to listen to feedback and apply it to the show is not only a success for audiences, but it also means Gaiman is thinking long term for the Netflix show, and it will hopefully continue beyond season 2. The Sandman’s future Despair has many positive effects for the Netflix show, and will hopefully mean season 2 is full of exciting stories.
