This August, Netflix released the long-awaited adaptation of Neil Gaiman's beloved comic series The Sandman. The series follows the seven Endless - a family of immortal, godlike beings who govern natural forces. While the main character of the franchise is the titular Dream, his sister Death also plays an important role in the comics and streaming series.

Played by Kirby Howell-Baptiste, The Sandman's personification of Death follows in the footsteps of many inventive iterations. From children's cartoons and anime to satirical fantasy and horror, these re-imagined reapers are significant characters in their respective franchises.

The Sandman

The Sandman standing in Matthew's shadow

Contrary to the popular presentations of Death as imposing or intimidating, The Sandman's Death is cute, pleasant, and warm. Instead of approaching the dying with a scythe, she comes with words of kindness, a smile, and a gentle hand.

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In an interview for WIRED, Sandman creator Neil Gaiman explained that he created the kind of Death he'd like to meet at the end of his life: "a Death who is, above all, kind." In both the comics and the Netflix series, Death is a loving supporter of her brother, Dream.

The Grim Adventures Of Billy & Mandy

Death in the Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy

One of Cartoon Network's best series, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, takes great pleasure in cutting the personification of Death down to size. After losing a limbo match to children Billy and Mandy (in a nod to the chess game from Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal), the Grim Reaper, "Grim," is forced into servitude as their best friend forever.

Supernatural hijinks ensue as Billy and Mandy use their newfound friend to visit otherworldly locations and face off against mythical monsters. The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy delights in the twisted friendship between the characters and Death's unwilling servitude.

Discworld

Discworld-death

The late Sir Terry Pratchett created, in the Discworld novels, a satirical fantasy realm replete with vampires, witches, gods, and more. Naturally, Discworld has its own caricature of the Grim Reaper, a psychopomp who serves the greater death deity Azrael. Featuring in numerous Discworld novels, Death has also made appearances in onscreen adaptations, such as the animated version of Wyrd Sisters (voiced by Christopher Lee), and the live-action Hogfather.

He even serves as a horseman of the apocalypse in the Pratchett/Gaiman collaboration Good Omens. Physically, Death resembles the conventional Grim Reaper, complete with black robes and a scythe. He's a nuanced character, with an endless fascination with humanity, a love of cats, and a steadfast adherence to duty.

Castlevania

Castlevania-death

Though he wears the face of Varney the Vampire for most of his screen time in the Netflix series, Death is the ultimate villain and final boss of Castlevania's fourth season. Also a major villain in the Konami video game that inspired the anime, he is a driver of the plot to resurrect Dracula.

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Skeletal, monumental in size, and bearing a natural bony crown, Castlevania's Death is physically about as terrifying as they come. However, in the final confrontation with Trevor Belmont, it's revealed that this elemental spirit is not so much the personification of Death as a vampiric creature who feeds on living energy at the moment of death.

Family Guy

Family-Guy-death

Death is a recurring character on the irreverent animated comedy Family Guy; he even made his debut in the pilot episode "Death Has a Shadow." Voiced first by the late Norm MacDonald and later by Adam Carolla, Family Guy's vision of the Grim Reaper may look like the classic interpretation, but he's tinged with satire.

Revealed to be opportunistic, petty, and insecure around women, Death occasionally joins in Peter and the gang's shenanigans. In the It's a Wonderful Life-inspired episode "Friends of Peter G," Death proves to be more than an ironic vehicle for comedy, showing Peter versions of his life with and without heavy alcohol use.

Death Note

Ryuk smiling in the Death Note anime.

A whole, ubiquitous race rather than a single character, Death Note's Shinigami are inspired by death gods of Japanese mythology, loose counterparts of the Western Grim Reaper. In the anime, they are extra-dimensional entities who kill humans to extend their own lives by way of the Death Note. Though in the Death Note manga, Shinigami are not present at the death of every human being, the 2017 Netflix adaptation retools the race to function more like the grim reaper.

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The Shinigami serve a higher being, the King of Death or Shinigami King. He is characterized as an incomprehensible force of immeasurable power and thus remains unseen in Death Note.

Supernatural

Supernatural-death

As the long-running Supernatural dove deeper into Biblical cosmology, it came as no surprise that Death, a horsemen of the apocalypse, made a recurring appearance. The commander of legions of reapers, Death is an ambiguous force within the series. He is bound to the natural order, caring little for the emotional or moral impact of his actions; thus, at times, he lands on the side of the heroes, and other times, he's a major antagonist.

Wherever the chips fall, Death is one of Supernatural's best side characters. For most of the series, Death is portrayed by Julian Richings. In later seasons, however, the reaper Billie (played by Lisa Berry), takes over the scythe. As the new Death, she harbors more ill will toward the Winchesters, which develops into a more complex relationship throughout the series.

Dead Like Me

Dead-Like-Me

It's no spoiler to say that the underrated HBO series Dead Like Me begins with the death of its main character Georgia "George" Lass. She quickly joins the ranks of the grim reapers, a team of undead who collect the souls of the dying and escort them to the afterlife. George and her fellow reapers retain a normal human appearance, though they are unrecognizable as themselves to the living. Their role functions like an office job, despite the life-or-death stakes, and all the reapers conform to the demands of a shadowy, unknowable Death.

Because George and the reapers are formerly living humans, they struggle to let go of attachments to life; George, particularly, feels a lack of closure in her family relationships. Dead Like Me explores its own complex afterlife mythology through this character tension.

American Horror Story

American-Horror-Story-death

The second season of the anthology series, American Horror Story: Asylum features recurring actor Frances Conroy as Shachath, the Angel of Death. She functions as a traditional Grim Reaper, bestowing the Kiss of Death on dying souls, but she appears as an older woman dressed for mourning. Shachath is typically a comforting presence for the dying, offering words of solace instead of judgment.

Because the standalone seasons of American Horror Story are connected in the same logical universe with consistent internal lore, it can be assumed that, though unseen, Shachath is present at every death in every season.

The Bill & Ted Franchise

The-Bill-&-Ted-Franchise-death

Following the delightful historical romp of Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, the sequel Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey takes a hard left into the underworld. The eponymous duo fall to their deaths and travel through a surreal afterlife before facing off against Death himself. Taking cues from The Seventh Seal, Bill and Ted challenge the dour, pale-faced reaper to a series of games to win back their souls: Battleship, Twister, and Clue among them.

Finally, they win over Death, who accompanies them on their adventures and even joins their band, Wyld Stallyns. William Sadler's Death reappeared in the Bill & Ted legacy sequel, Bill & Ted Face the Music (2021), proving he's essential to the franchise's secret sauce.

NEXT: 10 Best Takeaways From The Sandman Season 1