The Sandman visionary Neil Gaiman revealed why Netflix's adaptation of his iconic comic book made major wardrobe changes to the characters Despair and Calliope.

Gaiman, while admitting that Netflix's version of Despair (Donna Preston) wasn't as accurate to its source material as it could have been, clarified why the character's nudity and unrealistic appearance in the comics was changed for the show. It seems that The Sandman's creators decided to change Despair's look when they realized it would take highly advanced CGI to create a visually accurate character that wouldn't look out of place next to a real actor. "Reproducing the Despair in the comics would be possible, but enormously expensive, time-consuming and difficult, and we decided to get a fabulous actor in and use our limited resources on other things," Gaiman explained.

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The Sandman Calliope Melissanthi Mahut

Calliope's Struggle on The Sandman

The renowned scribe additionally revealed that Calliope's (Melissanthi Mahut) frequently nude design was changed after the show's creators worried that the bleaker themes of her storyline might be misunderstood by audiences if adapted in live-action form for the television series. "A lot of it is just deciding what we were going for in the comic and trying to create that effect with television rather than with static drawn images," Gaiman explained. "Things that are hard but okay as drawings might be much darker and more painful when you are seeing them happen to real people."

Gaiman previously explained why the Netflix adaptation further modified Calliope's storyline, with the goddess playing a more dynamic role and actively attempting to escape from her captor during Episode 11, "Dream of a Thousand Cats/Calliope." The Sandman's creator claimed it was how the show intended to give Calliope a sense of agency, telling a story of abuse without aggrandizing the victim's horrible experience. Gaiman additionally believed the lack of glorification surrounding Calliope's struggle was an integral part of her storyline, with the author stating that showrunner Allan Heinberg and his team of writers likely spent a great deal of effort in translating the comics' undertones into a live-action format.

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The Sandman's VFX supervisor, Ian Markiewicz, believes there was a good chance Netflix will renew the series. His confidence is shared by several crew members of The Sandman, who were reportedly already working on the show's highly anticipated Season 2. Markiewicz claimed there was a solid vision for the next story arc, which Heinberg was busy editing when full-scale production began. He also admitted he was involved with the preliminary planning of Season 2, though he did not specify what he discussed with other showrunners.

The Sandman is available to stream on Netflix.

Source: Neil Gaiman 1, 2