Why doesn’t Tom Ellis play Lucifer in The Sandman?

Neil Gaiman’s comic The Sandman started coming out in the late ’80s. Early on, he introduces the character of Lucifer, the Lord of Hell. Lucifer eventually leaves Hell to open a piano bar in Los Angeles, which was the basis of a comic spinoff that eventually got turned into the popular show Lucifer, which starred Tom Ellis in the title role.

Now, Netflix is adapting The Sandman, with Game of Thrones veteran Gwendoline Christie in the part of Lucifer. Lucifer first appears in Episode 4, when Morpheus travels to Hell in search of his stolen helmet. While there, he learns that the demon Choronzon has the helm and that Morpheus must fight to get it back. Choronzon chooses Lucifer to fight on his behalf, thus beginning the “Oldest Game.” Their battle is pretty epic. See for yourself:

“It was their mission to make this and make it fresh, to really honor the source material and everything that people love about the comics, but to bring it to life in a new way,” Christie told ET Online. “It was also the added emphasis that Neil’s always said it’s over 20 years ago, so there are things that he might want to do differently now. He might want to present it in a different way. So I connected to that and I also thought about what my own views and opinions of the character were, how I would like to see it portrayed, how it was speaking to me, and how it relates to our modern world.”

When the show was announced, many Lucifer fans thought they’d see Ellis reprise his role, but that wasn’t the case. “He is so lovable. He is so wonderful. You love him so much that I couldn’t sell the world on Tom’s Lucifer as being a genuine threat because you’d go, ‘Ah, he’d get them all wound up, and then they’d go for a drink,'” Gaiman said.

"Actually, Tom’s Lucifer would just try and get Morpheus laid and loosen him up a bit or whatever, so you know that you can’t do that, so that allows us to go back to the original Lucifer and Sandman, to look at that David Bowie-inspired Lucifer, and with the fabulous wings, and to go, ‘OK, that’s Gwendoline Christie.’"

With all of that said, however, Gaiman would totally be down for a ‘Luciverse’ project. “Obviously, I would like to see the spinoff show in which Gwendoline’s Lucifer and Tom’s Lucifer go on a road trip. We need to make that happen.” How about a Johanna Constantine spinoff project while we’re at it?

Tom Ellis’ version of Lucifer is too “lovable” for The Sandman

From Game of Thrones to Star Wars, Christie is no stranger to big franchises with passionate fandoms. As one of the most beloved comics of all time, Sandman is no different.

“I think it’s always interesting when you’re dealing with material that people really love and they have an invested relationship, but that’s also what makes it enticing,” Christie said. “There’s already an audience there that really wants to see that story brought to life. But I find that I have to go back to the character. It isn’t helpful for me to think about that, otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to do it. But it’s heartwarming to know that there’s already a whole world of people that have a meaningful relationship with the material.”

Speaking of Christie’s history with big franchises, she recently hinted that she would love to return to the galaxy far, far away as Captain Phasma. “I mean, it’s Star Wars! I would absolutely love that,” she told Empire. “There was a template for a character that people got really excited about. It would be smashing if they felt that it was worthwhile to explore, along with some fabulous action.”

I don’t think we’ll get bored of her Lucifer anytime soon. The Sandman is currently streaming on Netflix.

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