Netflix's The Sandman will contain a host of supernatural characters featured in Neil Gaiman's acclaimed DC comics but one major character who will be missing is John Constantine. After decades of development and failed attempts, The Sandman has finally been adapted for live-action with Gaiman executive producing along with Allen Heinberg (Wonder Woman) and starring Tom Sturridge as Morpheus, the Lord of Dreams. The Sandman season 1 will adapt the collections Preludes & Nocturnes and The Doll's House - although without John Constantine, who plays a key role in the former. Instead, Jenna Coleman will portray Johanna Constantine in the present day and centuries in the past.
John Constantine was created by Alan Moore in the pages of Swamp Thing in the early 1980s but the British warlock quickly became such a pivotal figure in DC Comics that Gaiman added him in the third issue of The Sandman. After Morpheus escapes decades of imprisonment in the story, the dream king goes on a quest to seek items stolen from him, including a pouch of magical dream sand. This puts Constantine, one of the last people to see the bag of sand, in Morpheus' crosshairs, and the rogue occult detective helps the supernatural being reacquire his belongings. Of course, John Constantine beat The Sandman to live-action movie and TV adaptations. Keanu Reeves played an American version of John in 2005's Constantine feature film while Matt Ryan's traditional, British version of John Constantine won raves in a short-lived NBC series before he reprised Constantine in The CW's Arrowverse series Arrow and DC's Legends of Tomorrow.
Despite appearing in the comics, John Constantine isn't in Netflix's The Sandman because, in Neil Gaiman's own words on Twitter, "the rights situation with John is certainly circumscribed right now," meaning that there are other John Constantine projects in development that prevent him from being part of The Sandman. Currently, a John Constantine reboot series for HBO Max is in the works from J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot production company, with scripts having been delivered to the network. Further, Constantine is ostensibly part of Bad Robot's plans for Justice League Dark, which would unite DC Comics' supernatural beings. The popular Matt Ryan version of Constantine was also still part of DC's Legends of Tomorrow when The Sandman was in production at Netflix. Despite John's status as a seminal DC Comics occult character, it wasn't possible to include him in The Sandman TV series.
Instead, John's role will be taken over by Jenna Coleman's Johanna Constantine, and Gaiman noted that the plan for Coleman to portray Johanna in the present day and Lady Johanna in the past was part of The Sandman's TV vision from the start. Created by Gaiman in The Sandman comics, Lady Johanna is an ancestor of John's who is, herself, a con artist who dabbles in the supernatural. Since there's already another Constantine in The Sandman, it was a simple matter to substitute Johanna for John in The Sandman's present-day events. Further, The Sandman's Johanna Constantine is described as an upgrade from the grimy grifter John is often portrayed as. Coleman's Johanna Constantine is every bit as dangerous and untrustworthy as John but she moves in posh circles and her clients include the Queen of England herself.
However, John Constantine isn't the only major DC character who won't appear in Netflix's The Sandman. When Gaiman wrote the stories in Preludes & Nocturnes in the late 1980s, The Sandman was very much a part of the DC Universe. Superman is referenced in a dream while Justice League members Martian Manhunter and Mr. Miracle meet Dream en route to Morpheus recovering his ruby from Doctor Destiny. The Sandman season 1 will still delve into Doctor Destiny's story but it won't involve members of the Justice League in The Sandman at all, and the show will be self-contained outside of the DCEU. Indeed, this also reflects how The Sandman comics mostly distanced itself from the greater DC Universe after it became the flagship series of DC's Vertigo Comics imprint. Of course, John Constantine's Hellblazer series was another pillar of Vertigo, but Johanna Constantine will suitably represent the family name in Netflix's The Sandman.
The Sandman premieres on August 5th on Netflix.