Warning: This article contains spoilers for Netflix’s The Sandman.The Sandmanfeatures incredible performances across the board, courtesy of actors expertly tackling the otherworldly characters from the DC Comics series. Primarily,The Sandmanfollows Tom Sturridge’sDream and the other Endless, the seven personifications and gods of the tenants of human experience — also including Death, Destruction, Desire, Despair, Delirium, and Destiny.
How does one play a character who is the ruler of all dreams or delusions,embodying the very nature of that concept, while carrying out an individual, relatable arc?The Sandmanseason 2’s castincludes the members of the Endless who were not in season 1, completing the lineup of the fascinating ways these beings are brought to life.
Meanwhile,various additional A-list actors and rising stars alike play other powerful (or less so) figures in this landscape of mythological entitiesjostling for control. By portraying their characters' wisdom, trickery, or vulnerability, they illustrate true talent in this unique, abstract fantasy story that needed such clever actors to work.
10David Thewlis
As John Dee
The minor villain John Dee has a short-lived arc in season 1, during which he shows what misusing the power of the Dreaming looks like, believing his actions facilitate honesty and freedom.David Thewlis excellently pulls off the persona of a deluded villain,on a mission to accomplish his own vision of truth and betterment.
John is calm and creepy, unceremoniously revealing his past violent crimes and causing chaos, distress, and bloodshed without blinking an eye. Yet, he is a bit underwhelming, a person who’s led a hard life and hurts others because of it. He’s not the most compelling character or performance in the show, but well done overall for what he is to the story.
9Jack Gleeson
As Puck
Game of ThronesactorJack Gleeson is initially unrecognizable inThe Sandman, but as the season progresses, you realize that this role is an amazing next step for him. Puck is the trickster of lore, who comes across as much more dangerous in this setting, andGleeson executes his mischievous semi-villainy perfectly.
The performance becomes even more interesting when touches of sympathy are carefully mixed into this. Puck may be awful, but he doesn’t want his partner to kill a baby. He sweetly interacts with baby Daniel, has genuine but tainted love for Loki (Freddie Fox), and knows when to call it quits, making for a nuanced realization of this legendary figure.
8Boyd Holbrook
As The Corinthian
The Sandmanneeded a good serial killer performance to tell its story,and Boyd Holbrook delivered. The character captures the nature of what it is for Dream to be able to create true nightmares, and what happens when they escape into the waking world. The Corinthian is razor-sharp and terrifying, seeking his own freedom.
Then, when he returns in season 2, the Corinthian has somehow lost none of his edge but can still be seen as a true ally to the heroes. Holbrook entirely flips the script, showing his character’s interest in getting to know Johanna and his gentleness with the baby. And yet, his sinister aura doesn’t completely go away (making his heroism a little hard to swallow).
7Jenna Coleman
As Johanna Constantine
Johanna is arguably the most likable character whenever she is onscreen. Capable, witty, and always carrying a storied, tragic life with her, she is a fantastic dark heroine serving as a supporting character in this epic. Jenna Coleman portrays her as very confident in her supernatural dealings, while still conveying her underlying sadness.
Johanna wants love, but has seen too many people die to pursue it. That longing is subtle in Coleman’s performance, but its being there is crucial to the character.Sometimes the writing doesn’t do Johanna many favors, limiting what Coleman can act as the modern-day exorcist or her ancestor,but she is compellingly sharp and wistful throughout.
6Stephen Fry
As Fiddler’s Green
Stephen Fry was an inspired casting choice for Fiddler’s Green,bringing exactly the right kind of friendliness and understanding to the role. He seems to know exactly what advice or encouragement any character needs at a given moment, including Dream; despite the king’s foreboding manner, even he is too fond of Fiddler’s Green to really be angry at him.
In concept, the character is abstract, while in execution, his dialogue and role are fairly straightforward. And yet, Fry undeniably brings a certain magic to the beloved Dreaming resident. He serves as an understated pillar of the series, capturing the more hopeful side of Dream’s dominion.
5Esmé Creed-Miles
As Delirium
As she isThe Sandman’s most popular character, the bar was incredibly high for the actor who would end up playing Delirium.Esmé Creed-Miles is utterly delightful in the role, having plenty of fun with Delirium’s checked-out-of-reality demeanorand sweet fascination with most things and people, while nailing the sincere underpinnings of the character.
Delirium may seem to inhabit a psychedelic world, but there is a wisdom there that none of her more powerful, serious siblings can access. She is more likely than any of them to simply say things as they are, particularly when it comes to emotions. The way she connects with people reminds them that there are always greater mysteries to ponder.
4Vivienne Acheampong
As Lucienne
Lucienne is an incredible player in the world of the Endless, serving as Dream’s ever-prepared right-hand woman. Vivienne Acheampong’s performance is friendly, courteous, and professional. Moreover, it shows how Lucienne has earned her place where the King of Dreams will heed her advice through ages of service and proving her intelligence.
And Dream still occasionally blows her off. It’s not in Lucienne’s personality (or really, her power) to overreact to this, soAcheampong has to portray the underlying tension, and Lucienne’s complicated feelings about her belief in the Dreaming vs. her belief in the current King of Dreams.Overall, she is another kind, complex, and storied figure who may be overlooked in comparison to the Endless.
3Tom Sturridge
As Dream
Dream’s arc is the centerpiece of the show, and Tom Sturridge executes it beautifully. Because of the character’s habitually stoic demeanor, the actor often has to portray devastating emotions with only the slightest change in expression. We see so little of Dream’s character before his imprisonment in this series, so much of the focus is on his evolution.
Despite how rigid he is,the writing and the performance work to convince us that the events playing out would have a real impact on Dream,slowly breaking down his walls and prompting him to acknowledge his human emotions. He conveys such power when he is being godly that the things he does to show vulnerability hit hard.
However,I wouldn’t say Sturridge gives the best performance inThe Sandmanwhen there are times when it feels like he is depending on a single facial expressionof pretentious dourness. But it is undeniable that he pulled off this larger-than-life character arc of a god’s humbling and heartbreak.
2Gwendoline Christie
As Lucifer
Maybe partially thanks to her own lofty status in the cultural zeitgeist,Gwendoline Christie has a potent and commanding presence as Lucifer to rival Dream.Lucifer is also very thoughtful, though not in the maniacal or chaotic way I’ve seen in other versions of the biblical character. Thus, Christie shines during Lucifer’s face-off with Dream in season 1.
However, the character’s philosophical fraughtness is taken to new heights in season 2. Lucifer simply says they have decided to retire, and Christie makes it seem like the most world-breaking thing to ever happen. Lucifer’s follow-up scene of enjoying retirement is equally thoughtful, rounding out the arc of the fallen angel who questions everything and then walks away.
1Kirby Howell-Baptiste
As Death
Death is fascinating and breathtaking in her incarnation inThe Sandman,poignantly proving how death can be so very gentle. During her first episode, she merely walks onto the scene to have a conversation with her brother, and somehow completely rocks the foundation of the TV adaptation, showing a very different way one of the Endless can manifest.
Death is very sweet and quirky,meshing with her more haunting qualities. In contrast to the show’s often dangerously arrogant entities, her interactions with humans who have just died are touching and convincing in how she eases them into reality. However,The Sandmanseason 2’s special episodereveals her heartbreaking yearning, and how she is not a perfect being either.
Kirby Howell-Baptiste is also one of the actors ofThe Sandmanwhose performance is hard to pin down in terms of specific acting choices — she just has aje ne sais quoithat lends itself flawlessly to this character. She is, at least, very in touch with how Death is inherently larger than life, but is very connected to humanity’s grounded experiences.
