‘The Sandman’ star teases how she’ll breathe new life into Death

The long-awaited The Sandman TV series is finally just a few weeks away from awakening on Netflix. While Tom Sturridge is set to star as the eponymous Sandman, aka Morpheus, aka Dream, he’ll be ably supported by a ridiculously star-studded ensemble cast. At the top of the pack is Kirby Howell-Baptiste as Death, Dream’s surprisingly perky sister, who is arguably the breakout character from the original comics saga by Neil Gaiman.

Ahead of The Sandman coverage that’s set to drop at this weekend’s San Diego Comic-Con, Howell-Baptiste spoke to Entertainment Weekly to tease what we can expect from her interpretation of Death, who is one of the seven Endless, ancient beings who personify universal concepts. The Cruella actress promised that her character will be totally different from other grim reapers we might’ve seen in movies and TV shows before. She explained:

“Most of the time when we see a representation of Death, it’s so focused on the end. But this character says, ‘I was there in the beginning, and I’ll be there in the end.’ Death is born of life. I think there’s something very beautiful and cyclical about her position in the world, because it’s so much about the full journey that she is there for. That lends itself to a more feminine energy — there is this much more nurturing, caring side to Death than we’ve ever seen before.”

Howell-Baptiste’s description certainly fits Death as she’s presented in the comics, which isn’t all that surprising, seeing as Gaiman has been heavily involved in this adaptation, serving as co-showrunner alongside David S. Goyer (The Dark Knight) and Allan Heinberg (Wonder Woman). Having admitted to preventing any bad scripts from getting made over the years, it adds up that Gaiman would take hold of the project himself. With any luck, it’ll prove to be the definitive adaptation that fans, and Gaiman himself, have been waiting over 30 years for.

Sturridge and Howell-Baptiste are joined by the likes of Gwendoline Christie (Lucifer), Boyd Holbrook (The Corinthian), Charles Dance (Roderick Burgess), Vivienne Acheampong (Lucienne), Mason Alexander Park (Desire), and Jenna Coleman (Johanna Constantine). The 11-part first season — an adaptation of the first two graphic novels, Preludes & Nocturnes and The Doll’s House — premieres on Netflix on Aug. 5.