It’s a finish line for Netflix’s The Sandman which has just debuted its last chapter and the second part of season 2, with one more episode also coming to the streamer’s platform on July 31.

Based on Neil Gaiman’s vast collection of comic book series of the same name, the TV series isn’t that much of a faithful adaptation of its source material and, frankly, didn’t even have a lot of time to become one.

Despite many fans’ expectations, The Sandman was cancelled after two seasons only, so no wonder the show was forced to adjust its storyline to specific limits.

Particularly, a major change also happened to Umulisa Gahiga’s character that in the first season was played by a completely different actress — that’s not the most surprising part though.

Umulisa Gahiga Portrays Nada in ‘The Sandman’ Season 2

In both the comic books and the TV adaptation, Nada is introduced as an intelligent and noble queen of the First People, a prehistoric African civilization.

In The Sandman’s first season, it’s also revealed that Nada is Dream’s former lover, but their relationship ended when she refused to become his queen, remaining loyal to her nation.

Enraged by her rejection, Dream condemned Nada to Hell, which is the exact place where he — unsurprisingly — finds her later in season 1.

Apart from the fact that Nada in the show is pretty much different from her counterpart in Gaiman’s comics, some fans were confused to see her being portrayed by Umilisa Gahiga in the second season while in the first instalment she was played by Deborah Oyelade.

Still, the reasons why the latter was replaced by Gahiga remain unknown, but the character change was recently brought up by The Sandman’s co-creator.

Nada’s Major Change in ‘The Sandman’ Was Creative Choice

In the original comic book series, Nada is a leader of a civilization living in a savannah while in Netflix’s The Sandman she is the queen of people who inhabit a technologically advanced, snow-covered city.

While the change didn’t have that much of an impact on the storyline anyway, fans wondered whether there was a real reason behind going with a much more different idea.

“First of all, I’m just glad that we were able to do a version of Nada and the First People. If you think about it, people were trying to make ‘Sandman’ forever, and I was even involved in a feature version at one point, but so much was left on the table, and it’s such a — and I mean this in the most loving way — the story is such a shaggy beast”, The Sandman’s co-creator David Goyer revealed in an interview with Variety earlier this month.

He added that the show itself was never meant to be as linear as the original comic book, especially since the story unfolds in different dimensions at a time, so the production team knew about having to make some major changes right away.

“Obviously, we had to make some choices — it’s a different medium — in how we’re going to depict these characters. But I agreed with that creative choice, and Netflix has been great”, Goyer said.