Given a Chance, Gaiman Wouldn't Have Cast Bowie as The Sandman's Lucifer
In the 2022 Neftlix TV adaptation of The Sandman, Lucifer Morningstar was an androgynous villain played by Gwendoline Christie.
Lucifer 's appearance naturally led to speculation along the lines of "wouldn't it be cool if David Bowie was still around to play him".
After all, David Bowie was an inspiration for Lucifer's appearance in the comics. (Another obvious casting suggestion, of course, was Tom Ellis, who played Lucifer in the series of the same name, based on the comic book that began as a spin-off of The Sandman ).
However, The Sandman's co-creator Neil Gaiman recently explained in an interview, why that would be a bad idea (via):
"I wouldn't have cast David Bowie as he was before he died, because the whole idea was that Lucifer is meant to look like a beautiful angel," he said. "I absolutely would have cast David Bowie if we had a time machine and a cloning device and we could have had David at any time between his 20th birthday and let's say his 50th birthday, and I would have done the casting then."
Well, as some fans complain, Gwendoline Christie 's looks in this show and this role do evoke associations with a middle-aged schoolteacher rather than a beautiful angel, but otherwise the logic is sound.
David Bovie's looks became unsuitable for the role long before his death.
"But, I suspect that David might well have been keen [on] seeing Gwendoline [Christie] play the part," Gaiman continued. "Because he was somebody who was asked who he'd like to portray him in a biopic and his answer was Tilda Swinton. So he probably would have loved to have seen Gwendoline [in the role]."
The decision to cast Christie as a gender-swapped version of Lucifer caused considerable controversy when it was first announced. However, Gaiman remained steadfast in his support for her and the rest of the cast of the fantasy series.
Other controversial castings included Kirby Howell-Baptise as Death and Jenna Coleman as Lady Johanna Constantine, replacing John Constantine in the series.
Gaiman, who worked closely with the showrunners, went as far as to say that people who criticised these casting decisions weren't Sandman fans.