Lucifer showrunners shared their thoughts on Gwendoline Christie’s version of Lucifer Morningstar on Netflix’s The Sandman. After many years of trying to bring Neil Gaiman’s critically acclaimed comic series to the screen, Netflix became the home for The Sandman TV show. Initially developed as a live-action movie years ago, the project got retooled as a television series, allowing Gaiman’s property to get a more prominent spotlight instead of just two hours in a theater.
The Sandman follows Morpheus and the Endless, a family that is anthropomorphic personifications of critical aspects of the universe. One of the huge players in The Sandman season 1 was Lucifer Morningstar, played by Game of Thrones, and Star Wars star, Gwendoline Christie. Before her iteration, Tom Ellis had starred as the DC/Vertigo-based character for six seasons of Lucifer, a reimagination of Gaiman’s creation in the form of a procedural-fantasy series. Lucifer ran for three seasons on FOX until its cancelation, which led to Netflix saving before the show concluded in 2021, almost a year before The Sandman premiered on the same platform.
While Lucifer showrunners Ildy Modrovich and Joe Henderson have no involvement with The Sandman, they support Christie’s iteration of the DC icon. In a new interview with TVLine, promoting the Lucifer season 6 Blu-Ray/DVD release, the co-creators were asked if they had seen The Sandman’s take on the Devil. Henderson had nothing but praise for The Sandman’s portrayal of Lucifer. In addition, the Lucifer co-showrunner explained how Ellis’ take on the character would never have fitted in with The Sandman’s direction, stating that he even loves that there are significant differences between the two iterations.
“I loved her. I love it. It’s funny, many of the fans were like, “Why isn’t it Tom Ellis?” If you watch the show you see why, because her Lucifer is cruel, and brutal, and awesome. And it would break our hearts if Tom Ellis played that version of it, because ours is very sweet and kind. I love the differences, and I want to write the road trip spinoff of the two of them traveling America together and getting in trouble!”
As popular as Ellis’ Lucifer was and continues to be, Henderson couldn’t be more right about this. While his show did explore the many complex sides of Lucifer, there was never a trajectory for him where he could organically become the vicious foe that Christie’s character became in The Sandman season 1. It’s also crucial to remember that Lucifer season 6 gave the titular character a happy ending with Chloe Decker, which would have been ruined if he suddenly became an antagonist in The Sandman.
While Ellis’ time as Lucifer may be over, The Sandman could always stage a crossover down the line where he gets to share the screen with Christie’s version. Despite initially starting as its own self-contained world, Lucifer did become loosely tied to the Arrowverse through Crisis on Infinite Earths, revealing that Ellis’ character is set on Earth-666. Even though it was a brief cameo, it did open up the idea of Lucifer doing crossovers with other DC properties. The Sandman could easily be one of them if the Netflix drama wanted to have Ellis guest in a potential season 2 or beyond.
