Who Is Johanna Constantine in The Sandman? Meet Jenna Coleman’s Character

The upcoming The Sandman series on Netflix is sure to become one of the biggest releases from the streaming giant in recent memory due to how popular The Sandman is among different comic book aficionados. With that said, people are becoming more interested in characters from The Sandman, and that includes Johanna Constantine, who is set to become one of the important supporting characters of the series. So, who is Johanna Constantine in The Sandman?

Johanna Constantine, in the comics, is an 18^th and 19th-century ancestor of John Constantine. However, in the series, Jenna Coleman is set to play two roles—the ancestor and the modern-day version. This is due to the fact that there are some legal issues regarding the use of John Constantine’s character.

It is important to note that The Sandman, while falling under the banner of DC, is a Netflix original that still has to abide by the different licensing issues of the characters that will appear in the series. In that regard, Johanna Constantine is most likely going to be both the ancestor and the female version of John Constantine. Now, let’s look at what we know about Johanna Constantine.

Who Is Johanna Constantine In The Sandman?

As the release date of Netflix’s The Sandman draws near, people are now getting more interested in the characters and personalities that will be featured in this Neil Gaiman comic book series. Of course, Gaiman himself has an active role in the production of the series, and this is where fans are confused in relation to the different characters that are going to be featured in the series.

One such character that has drawn a lot of attention is Johanna Constantine, who some fans aren’t exactly familiar with because of how she isn’t the most prominent character in The Sandman comic book series under the banner of the DC universe. Still, we’ll try to make you understand more about who this character is and what kind of role she could play in the upcoming Netflix original.

In the comics, Lady Johanna Constantine is an 18^th and 19th-century aristocrat that spent her time more as a con artist than an actual magician or sorcerer. And the reason why we are pointing out that fact is that she is the ancestor of John Constantine, who is one of the most popular conjurers in the history of the DC universe.

Anyway, Johanna does know a bit about magic to the point that she knows that it is dangerous and that anything that can be tied to ancient lore can be quite risky. This makes her a bit different from John, but that doesn’t make them any different in terms of the fact that they (and all of the Constantines) are cursed to be able to use magical powers at the cost of everyone they ever loved getting sent to hell.

In the comics, Morpheus encountered Lady Constantine during the end of the 18^th century while she was trying to piece together a legend regarding the Devil and the Wandering Jew meeting each other every century in a London pub. While she was correct about the time and location of the meeting, what she didn’t know was that it was actually Morpheus and an immortal friend that was meeting in that pub every century. And Morpheus was impressed by the fact that she was able to chase that legend, and that was what prompted him to ask her help several years later in a matter that he shouldn’t be openly engaged with.

It was only in 2003 that Lady Johanna Constantine’s background was given more attention. In that storyline, she was able to earn her royal title after helping King George III in an important matter that required her expertise. The comic book series released in 2003 was able to allow us to get to know more about Johanna and how she is different from John in a lot of different aspects. She was more of a spy, con artist, and explorer instead of a conjurer, which fit John’s description more. And we also got to learn how Johanna seems to be more respectful and cordial compared to the more profane and informal John.

Is Johanna Constantine A Female John Constantine?

The reason why fans are confused regarding the existence of Johanna Constantine in the series is the fact that Gaiman alluded to the possibility of the character being two different people in two different eras. There’s the fact that Lady Constantine will appear and the possibility of a modern-day version appearing as well. And this is where people are wondering whether or not she was merely just a gender-bended version of John Constantine.

It is worth noting that John Constantine is a popular DC character because of his personality and approach when handling matters that are related to magic, the dark arts, and anything in between. He also had a few brush-ins with Morpheus and the other Endless.

In the comics, Constantine met Morpheus when the latter came to him to seek the magic bag of sand that contained a good portion of his power. Constantine acquired this artifact at one point in his life, and that’s why Constantine was trying to obtain it from him. And a photo of Morpheus in the series wherein he is seen together with Johanna Constantine seems to indicate that the series will follow the early part of the comic book version of The Sandman when Morpheus and Constantine met.

In that regard, we are inclined to believe that Johanna Constantine is indeed a female version of John Constantine, considering that there are some legal issues that Netflix needed to take into consideration in relation to this series. And one such legal issue is the fact that the live-action licensing rights to John Constantine belong to NBC, which released a Constantine series revolving around the character.

Because Netflix and NBC are entirely different entities, Neil Gaiman and the other producers needed to find a way to include the Constantine storyline without having to cross any legal boundaries that could get them into trouble. That is probably the reason why Johanna Constantine was introduced as a female John Constantine instead of simply borrowing the character from NBC.

However, there are also reasons to believe that, while Johanna carries a similar name to John, it is possible that she is an entirely different character instead of just a John Constantine that was turned into a woman. And that’s where Allan Heinberg, the showrunner of the series, said that Johanna is a lot more posh compared to John and has an upgraded clientele compared to the more underground world where John lives.

Nevertheless, there are a lot of reasons to believe that Johanna Constantine is a similar character to John Constantine because her character poster, which says that demons don’t trust her, seems to indicate that she is also just as cunning as her female counterpart. In that regard, we are only excited about the possibility of seeing Johanna Constantine dealing with demons and outsmarting them.

Who Plays Johanna Constantine?

Johanna Coleman is going to be portrayed by English actress Jenna Coleman. While she has been in the industry for a while already, it seems that her role in The Sandman is her biggest. Nevertheless, she also appeared as Clara in the Doctor Who series during the middle of the 2010s. She was nominated for a BAFTA award for her role in Doctor Who.

Coleman also appeared in the drama series entitled The Serpent. Some people may have seen her playing a smaller role in Captain America: The First Avenger and another supporting role in Me Before You. She is also a voice actress for the massive Nintendo Switch game Xenoblade Chronicles 3.