Nearly a year after the show’s premiere, The Sandman star Vanesu Samunyai is looking back at the harsh online backlash to her work in the series. Based on Neil Gaiman’s Vertigo graphic novels of the same name, the Netflix show centers on the eponymous Endless being as he escapes from a 106-year-long captivity from an occult ritual and seeks to restore his Kingdom of the Dreaming. Samunyai starred in The Sandman as Rose Walker, a young woman who learns she has the ability to attract and manipulate the dreams of those around her, making her a threat to Morpheus.
In a recent interview with swirlywords, Vanesu Samunyai reflected on her time working on Netflix’s The Sandman series. While looking at the harsh online backlash to her performance and the DC show as a whole, the Rose actor got candid about her emotional state afterward, feeling she was in a “dark hole for months” and actually opted out of appearing at the red carpet premiere because of it. See Samunyai’s full explanation below:
Initially I was going to watch the show after the premiere, but I made the mistake of going online and reading everyone’s opinions of me. I clamped up and numbed out after that. I mentally blocked out the whole experience as if it never happened – to protect myself. I didn’t watch myself back. As a ‘people pleaser’ seeing that disapproval made me feel like I’d done something wrong, and I felt so shameful. I was in a dark hole for months, just feeling like I’d failed, and feeling guilty for failing.
The Sandman Was A Success In Spite Of Its Backlashes
Well before the show arrived on Netflix, The Sandman was met with a variety of pushback from longtime fans of Gaiman’s graphic novels. The casting was the main point of focus for this backlash, with more toxic members criticizing the decision to cast Blacks actor Kirby Howell-Baptiste and Vivienne Acheampong as Death and Lucienne, both of whom were depicted as white in the comics, being seen as Netflix catering to more “woke” audiences.
Similarly, Mason Alexander Park, fresh off of their role in the live-action Cowboy Bebop adaptation, was met with backlash for being cast as Desire in The Sandman, which was largely agreed to be from the anti-LGBTQ+ section of the fanbase. Gaiman bluntly defended the various cast members from said backlash, standing behind his and showrunner Allan Heinberg’s decisions while also noting that Desire was depicted as androgynous in the comics, making Park’s casting fit the part.
While Samunyai may have similarly come under fire as some of her other co-stars, it ultimatley didn’t affect the show’s potential as The Sandman was considered to be one of Netflix’s most notable hits of 2022. Garnering nearly 394 million hours within its first month of release and holding the No. 1 spot on Netflix’s Top 10 list in its first three weeks of release, a new collection of Sandman episodes were ordered, whose production may be delayed amid the ongoing WGA writers strike.
Source: swirlywords
