The Sandman showrunner explains why he made these characters into ‘gay dads’ in season two
The Sandman showrunner has spoken out about channelling two characters’ “gay dad” energy, ahead of the bonus episode. (Netflix)
The Sandman showrunner has spoken out about channelling two characters' "gay dad" energy, ahead of the bonus episode. (Netflix)
The Sandman recently returned to Netflix for season two and is set to see an upcoming bonus episode. The series’ showrunner has now effortlessly explained why he turned two characters into “gay dads”.
Warning: The Sandman season two spoilers ahead.
The LGBTQ+-inclusive series, adapted from 80s and 90s comic book series by disgraced writer Neil Gaiman, launched its first season back in 2022. Three years later, the second season of The Sandman has landed to round off its final outing, and an upcoming bonus episode.
Speaking about his decision to turn Loki (House of the Dragon’s Freddie Fox) and Puck (Game of Thrones‘ Jack Gleeson) into “gay dads”, showrunner Allan Heinberg explained that he needed the audience to root for the pair on an “emotional” level.
“It was one of my favourite things about this part of the series,” Heinberg told Polygon of the pair’s dynamic. “We fulfil all the beats of the comic, but in a way that lets me know so much more about who Loki is and who Puck is, and why they do what they do.”
After Loki escaped imprisonment, he and faerie Puck became entangled in a relationship. The pair decided to kidnap Daniel Hall, Lyta Hall (Razane Jammal) and her late husband Hector (Lloyd Everitt)’s baby son.
After realising that Loki intended to kill the baby, Puck tried to return him. In the end, the baby turned into a man and became the new Dream of the Endless in the series finale.
“If you’ve got two trickster figures with ambiguous sexualities and a baby, I just immediately went, ‘Well, these are just gay dads,’” Heinberg said.
“I knew I needed to make the relationship emotional. I knew I wanted to root for them as a couple…Babies are tricky on television. The way to make the audience care about this baby is to make the lead characters care about the baby. Once they became a romantic couple with the baby, the arc just sort of wrote itself.”
Fans of The Sandman won’t have to wait much longer for the upcoming bonus episode, which is set to hit Netflix on Thursday (31 July).
Titled “Chapter 12: Death: The High Cost of Living”, the bonus episode is set to focus on Death (Kirby Howell-Baptiste) and will mark the end of The Sandman, as per Variety.
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