Too Hot For Hell: Simple Reason Why Tom Ellis 'Wouldn't Work' as Lucifer in The Sandman
There may be more than one perfect Lucifer.
When Neil Gaiman 's comic book series The Sandman was adapted for Netflix, there was a lot of social media buzz about the casting choices.
Some fans were not happy with the Lord Morpheus himself, some wanted less queer characters (umm, have you read the graphic novel?). But the biggest issue the fans had was with the figure of Lucifer.
The author of the series decided to offer the role to Gwendoline Christie. And frankly, the choice makes absolute sense, as in the book, the ruler of Hell had this androgynous look. So having Christie as Morningstar was a blast for the OG story fans.
However, as always, there were many "but why" fans all over the Internet, and one of their main questions was why Gaiman decided not to go with Tom Ellis, considering that he already played Lucifer in the Fox/Netflix adaptation of the DC comics.
Well, yes, technically Ellis comes from the same universe and even the same writer, but that was not enough to make him the devil of the Sandman world. And when questioned about it, Gaiman offered a simple explanation: he wasn't scary enough.
"He's a lovable rogue. He wouldn't work in Sandman because we have to get someone that makes people scared," Gaiman told Inverse.
Well, that's true, Tom Ellis' character in Lucifer, even though he's the devil, isn't really scary at all. Maybe for the criminals who see his true diabolical face before they die, but not for literally everyone else in the show.
The only thing most fans probably thought while watching the show was "oh, wow" or "marry me." Needless to say, that's not the effect Gaiman wanted to achieve with The Sandman.
With Gwendoline Christie, on the other hand, the scary effect was maximized – without diminishing the character’s charisma and magnetism. The way she almost destroyed Morpheus while still keeping a small smile on her face was terrifying and just painful to watch.
The goosebumps that Christie and Ellis gave their fans were so different that one wonders how they could play the same creature so uniquely.
If you want to refresh your memory of both performances, you can stream Lucifer and The Sandman on Netflix.
Source: Inverse