The Sandman: These DC Characters Were Cut From the Netflix Show

The Sandman is finally here. After decades of attempts, The Sandman finally comes to live-action as a series now streaming on Netflix. And, as ComicBook.com’s review states, it’s good. If you haven’t watched the show’s 10-episode first season, then you should go do that because we’re about to spoil some things by discussing the DC Comics characters from The Sandman comics that didn’t appear up in the streaming series. There’s no indication of it in the Netflix show, but The Sandman is a DC Comics adaptation. Though it began as a revival of an older DC Comics character who also went by the name Sandman, The Sandman soon became popular with readers who aren’t as into superheroes.

Though The Sandman would later become less entangled with DC’s superheroes, its earliest issues, adapted in this first season on Netflix, included many characters borrowed from the larger DC Universe. For The Sandman on Netflix to work apart from the DC Extended Universe, those roles had to be removed or rewritten to make sense in a world where superheroes are simply fictional characters rather than a reality. 

Here, we’ve put together a list of all of the DC Comics characters removed from The Sandman on Netflix. Some were replaced by other characters that are proving popular with fans. Read on, but know that spoilers follow. The Sandman is now streaming on Netflix.

John Constantine

John Constantine’s absence may be the highest profile swap in the series, primarily because most of the other DC characters make small appearances while Constantine was central to the plot of The Sandman #3, “Dream a Little Dream of Me,” as Dream seeks him out in search of his lost pouch of sand.

On Netflix, he’s replaced by Johanna Constantine, played by Jenna Coleman, who goes through pretty much the exact same story as John does in the comics, with a few additional scenes. There is a Johanna Constantine in the original Sandman comics who is one of John’s ancestors. Coleman plays that character in the comics as well, making the lineage all the clearer.

Etrigan the Demon

In The Sandman #4, “A Hope in Hell,” Morpheus travels to hell to retrieve his stolen helmet. Upon arriving, he’s greeted by Etrigan the Demon, a Jack Kirby creation, who serves as his guide to Lucifer’s palace.

Etrigan the Demon does not appear in the Netflix series. Instead, Morpheus is guided through hell by a called Squatterbloat, another demon from The Sandman comics.

Doctor Destiny

While John Dee does appear in Netflix’s The Sandman, he does not appear in his supervillain persona as Doctor Destiny. Doctor Destiny is a Justice League villain who debuted in the 1960s and used his personal inventions to combat the League. One such invention was the Dreamstone which allowed him to manipulate dreams. The Sandman retconned that device to be Morpheus’ lost tool, which Dee tweaked until it would only work for him.

In Netflix’s The Sandman, Dee never became a full-blown supervillain, but got ahold of the Dreamstone from his mother and used it to hurt people. He’s been kept in a mental hospital ever since

The Scarecrow

After being defeated by the Justice League, John Dee was sent to Arkham Asylum (in the comics, not the television show), where Batman’s villains go after being defeated by the Dark Knight. One of those villains appeared in The Sandman comics.

Jonathan Crane, the fear-obsessed villain known as the Scarecrow, appeared having a conversation with John Dee while they were both stuck in Arkham. Scarecrow even mentions the Joker, though the clown does not appear. In the Netflix series, Dee only speaks to his mother in the asylum.

Mister Miracle

Mister Miracle, a.k.a. Scott Free was recently the protagonist of his own critically-acclaimed miniseries. In 1989,  he was a member of the Justice League.

The Sandman #5, “Passengers,” Scott Free is having a nightmare about his childhood growing up on Apokolips, Darkseid’s world, under Granny Goodness. Morpheus awakens him from the nightmare to ask what the League did with Doctor Destiny’s ruby after defeating him. Scott doesn’t know, but he knows someone who does.

Martian Manhunter

Mister Miracle wakes up founding Justice League member Martian Manhunter to help Morpheus on his quest, figuring if anyone would know where the Dreamstone is it would be him. J’onn sees Morpheus as the Martian god of dreams, and Morpheus is shocked to learn that a Martian still lives.

Everything to do with the Justice League is cut from Netflix’s The Sandman. Instead of adapting “Passengers” into its own episode, the portions involving John Dee are worked into the episode adapting “A Hope in Hell.”

7. The Sandman

In the DC Comics universe, Hector Hall was a superhero who went by several different monikers, including The Sandman. After he died, his consciousness became trapped in the Dreaming by a couple of rogue nightmares. 

In Netflix’s adaptation, Hector Hall still appears in spectral form but was never a superhero. Instead, Rose Walker’s brother, Jed, dreams of becoming a superhero called The Sandman, his costume identical to the one worn by Hector in the comics.