The Sandman star Kirby Howell-Baptiste has weighed in on her role in the Neil Gaiman series adaptation.
The actress, who plays a different version of the Grim Reaper on the new Netflix show, drew a comparison with another series she has starred in that also dealt with life and death, The Good Place. She admittedly didn't connect the two series immediately.
"I hadn't done it before, which I feel very silly for not," Howell-Baptiste told Digital Spy.
Related: The Sandman writer Neil Gaiman warns fans not to "gatekeep" Netflix series
"But absolutely. I mean, The Good Place was so… Of course, we were dealing with the afterlife. But it was in such a different way," she added.
While The Good Place toyed with the concept of the afterlife in an emotional yet cheerful manner, The Sandman takes "a forensic approach" to death, according to the actress.
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"This version of Death, this idea, you have to almost take a forensic approach to looking at death in a way that I never had to before," she said.
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"My view and my thoughts on death have completely changed, and I think about it constantly – and not in a dark way.
"Just in a very contemplative way, because it is something that we spend so much time avoiding, but it's also something that's inevitable for absolutely everyone and everything that has life."
Alongside Howell-Baptiste playing "a utopian version of Death", The Sandman also features Tom Sturridge as protagonist Dream/Morpheus, Doctor Who's Jenna Coleman as occult detective Johanna Constantine, Vivienne Acheampong as Lucienne and Game of Thrones' Gwendoline Christie as Lucifer.
Boyd Holbrook, David Thewlis and Patton Oswalt also star.
The Sandman season 1 is streaming on Netflix.
The Sandman Volume 1: 30th Anniversary Edition: Preludes and Nocturnes
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Stefania is a freelance writer specialising in TV and movies. After graduating from City University, London, she covered LGBTQ+ news and pursued a career in entertainment journalism, with her work appearing in outlets including Little White Lies, The Skinny, Radio Times and Digital Spy.
Her beats are horror films and period dramas, especially if fronted by queer women. She can argue why Scream is the best slasher in four languages (and a half).
TV writer, Digital Spy Janet completed her Masters degree in Magazine Journalism in 2013 and has continued to grow professionally within the industry ever since. For six years she honed her analytical reviewing skills at the Good Housekeeping institute eventually becoming Acting Head of Food testing. She also freelanced in the field of film and TV journalism from 2013-2020, when she interviewed A-List stars such as Samuel L Jackson, Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson. In 2021 she joined Digital Spy as TV writer where she gets to delve into more of what she loves, watching copious amounts of telly all in the name of work. Since taking on the role she has conducted red carpet interviews with the cast of Bridgerton, covered the BAFTAs and been interviewed by BBC Radio and London Live. In her spare time she also moonlights as a published author, the book Gothic Angel.
