Fans aren’t the only ones critical of how Despair was portrayed in the first season of Netflix’s The Sandman. In fact, they’re in good company: Neil Gaiman, who wrote the comics on which the series is based on and serves as an executive producer on the show. In a post on Tumblr, where Gaiman has been interacting with his audience since leaving Twitter, the writer admits that he thinks the show “missed the mark” with the character, who in the comics has a more grotesque and overtly supernatural look. In the show, Donna Preston plays the character, who is depicted as a sad-looking woman in jeans and a sweater. She’s plain, but not grotesque or overtly supernatural, which has led to some criticisms.
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Specifically, an audience member characterized the TV version of Despair as “frumpy, depressed and not really loved by anyone.” Since that character is one of the only people on the show who isn’t skinny and conventionally attractive, it raises some red flags about the way plus-size characters come across on the series as a whole.
“Mostly, what I hope is that the next time you see Despair on the screen you won’t think of her as frumpy, depressed and unloved,” Gaiman said. “She isn’t in the comics, and I think we missed what we were aiming for in Sandman Season 1.”
Here’s the official synopsis:
When the Sandman, aka Dream (Tom Sturridge) – the powerful cosmic being who controls all our dreams – is unexpectedly captured and held prisoner for over a century, he must journey across different worlds and timelines to fix the chaos his absence has caused.
Based on the beloved award-winning DC comic series written by Neil Gaiman, THE SANDMAN is a rich, character-driven blend of myth and dark fantasy woven together over the course of ten epic chapters following Dream’s many adventures. Developed and executive produced by Gaiman, showrunner Allan Heinberg, and David S. Goyer, THE SANDMAN is Produced by Warner Bros. Television. The series also stars Boyd Holbrook, Patton Oswalt, Vivienne Acheampong, Gwendoline Christie, Charles Dance, Jenna Coleman, David Thewlis, Stephen Fry, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Mason Alexander Park, Donna Preston, Vanesu Samunyai (formerly known as “Kyo Ra”), John Cameron Mitchell, Asim Chaudhry, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Joely Richardson, Niamh Walsh, Sandra James-Young and Razane Jammal.
No word yet on exactly when The Sandman season 2 will launch on Netflix. You can see the first season on the streamer now.
