Warning: The following contains SPOILERS for The Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes graphic novel.
Confusion and controversy surround the character of Johanna Constantine, who appears in Netflix's upcoming The Sandman show. In The Sandman graphic novels, John Constantine makes an appearance, and the original casting left it unclear as to whether Johanna Constantine was a replacement for him. Early interviews further obfuscated the connections between Johanna Constantine and the characters featured in the original DC Comics series that the show is adapting.
The confusion and controversy started in April 2021 when it was first announced that Coleman would be playing Lady Johanna Constantine. This resulted in several outlets reporting that The Sandman would have Coleman playing a female version of warlock John Constantine. In the graphic novels, Lady Johanna Constantine is a different character who is an ancestor of John Constantine from the 18th Century and was created by writer Neil Gaiman and artist Michael Zulli specifically for The Sandman graphic novel series.
The story around Coleman's character became more confusing when it was later confirmed in September 2021 that Coleman would be playing two roles and that Netflix's The Sandman adaptation would also feature Coleman playing a woman named Johanna Constantine in the modern-day. This saw another spate of complaints that echoed rebutted complaints regarding Gwendoline Christie playing Lucifer in the series. According to Neil Gaiman, Coleman's casting in the dual roles was entirely related to practicality and suitability for the role, tied to dancing around some dicey legal issues regarding the rights to John Constantine.
Lady Constantine Explained
The character of Lady Johanna Constantine first appeared in The Sandman graphic novels. Lady Johanna Constantine was more con artist than conjurer, but knew enough true magic and ancient lore to be dangerous. This distinguished her somewhat from her descendant, modern-day magician John Constantine, who had been created for Swamp Thing several years earlier. Both Constantines were heir to a curse that gave one Constantine in every generation magical talent at the cost of losing everyone they ever loved to Hell.
The Sandman, Morpheus, first encountered Lady Constantine in 1789 while she was chasing a legend regarding the Devil and the Wandering Jew meeting once every 100 years in a certain London pub. Her information was spot-on, save for the identities of the two men meeting, who were actually Morpheus and an immortal friend. Morpheus was impressed by Lady Constantine's daring in trying to trap him, however, and he sought her out in 1794 for assistance in a matter in which he could not be seen acting openly.
Lady Constantine's full background was later revealed in a 2003 mini-series by writer Andy Diggle and artist Goran Sudžuka. Their story detailed how she reclaimed her royal title after discreetly assisting King George III in a matter of some importance. This mini-series fleshed out Lady Johanna Constantine's character, further distinguishing her from her descendant by establishing her as a master spy and highly trained expert at espionage. This was a far cry from the John Constantine of the comics, whose training in everything was as informal as his behavior.
Is Johanna Constantine A Female John Constantine?
The question of whether or not Jenna Coleman was playing a female version of John Constantine was finally settled by a trailer for Netflix's The Sandman. The trailer showed Coleman, clad in John Constantine's trademark trenchcoat, talking with a woman named Mad Hettie about the return of the Dream King after several decades of imprisonment. This scene was taken directly from the third chapter of the first Sandman graphic novel, Preludes and Nocturnes, where warlock John Constantine was informed about the Sandman's return to power just before meeting him in the flesh.
Despite this, it seems a bit glib to describe Johanna Constantine as merely being a female John Constantine. Jenna Coleman and The Sandman showrunner Allan Heinberg both spoke about Johanna's character during a cast panel video (via YouTube, below) filmed for Netflix Geeked Week, describing her as being "upgraded in her clientele" and "a bit posh" compared to John Constantine. This fits with what we see of her in the trailer, where her overcoat is crisp and clean to the point of almost glowing, looking more like a wizard's robe than the dirty duster favored by John Constantine in the comics, which gives him the classical appearance of a private investigator. And yet, while her list of clients may include the Queen of England, Johanna seems to be cut from the same cloth as the treacherous John Constantine, with her character poster warning that "Even demons don't trust Johanna Constantine."
Johanna Constantine's Story In The Sandman Explained
In The Sandman graphic novel Preludes and Nocturnes, Morpheus came to John Constantine seeking the magic bag of sand that contained much of his power, which Constantine had acquired at some point in his past along with other assorted magical artifacts. A new photo, which depicts Morpheus (Tom Sturridge) in a dark blue trenchcoat matching Constantine's, suggests this storyline will be recreated as part of The Sandman season 1. This scene seems to be inspired by a similar moment from The Sandman comics, where Morpheus of the Endless reluctantly replaced his usual black robe with a trenchcoat in deference to the warlock John Constantine's request that he try to blend in better.
Will John Constantine Appear In Netflix's Sandman Show?
The confirmation that Jenna Coleman is playing a female version of John Constantine in the modern-day setting of Netflix's The Sandman strongly suggests that there will not be any appearance by the original John Constantine in the series. Neil Gaiman addressed this point (via Twitter), after one fan asked him if the decision to cast Coleman as a modern-day Johanna Constantine had been born of the rights issues regarding the use of John Constantine, who had recently been removed from the Arrowverse after being played by Matt Ryan for several years on Legends of Tomorrow, in anticipation of JJ Abrams' Constantine reboot for HBO Max.
Gaiman acknowledged that the rights issues made the prospect of giving John Constantine a one-episode cameo more difficult, but said that the decision to create a modern-day Johanna Constantine based on the 18th Century Lady Constantine and cast the same actor in both roles had been made early on in the show's development cycle and was not necessarily related to the rights problems. Adaptations are free to change things about the characters when necessary, and with Gaiman's involvement in the decision to create Johanna Constantine, giving John Constantine a cameo in The Sandman would be completely unnecessary, in addition to being legally complicated.
The Sandman premieres on Friday, August 5 on Netflix.