In our exclusive interview, The Sandman season 2 star Umulisa Gahiga discusses her role as Queen Nada. We talk about her character’s emotional journey, interactions with key characters, and more.
The Sandman is now complete, and the entire two-season saga is available to stream on Netflix. A key figure in the second season is Nada, whose storyline plays a central role in the season’s emotional arc. Initially played by Deborah Oyelade, Umulisa Gahiga took over the role of Nada for season two.
The Queen of the First People, Nada ruled over an African kingdom known as the First City. After she meets Dream of the Endless (Tom Sturridge), he falls in love with her. When Nada ultimately refuses him, believing that a relationship with an Endless would be detrimental to herself and her entire kingdom, Dream condemns her to Hell.
Nada’s character arc is one of the most significant over the course of season 2. Following the conclusion of The Sandman, we at Comics Bulletin recently caught up with actress Umulisa Gahiga to discuss her role on the series. Check out our interview in full below:
Comics Bulletin: You’ve talked in previous interviews about your heritage and how important it is to you. When building Nada, did you put a part of that heritage into her character? And if you did, how did you utilise that?
Umalisa Gahiga: Yes, I did. Absolutely. Nada goes through a world of pain throughout her arc in the show.
And in my cultural upbringing, the way that we show pain is quite unique in a way I haven’t really seen elsewhere in the world, which is they make a point of not making her pain a spectacle, no matter how poignant or how deep or how potent the pain is. She was written like that on the page as well, especially in the scene with Dream where she slaps him.
And when they had that confrontation, she’s just come from years and years of trauma. Allan writes it like that on the page as well. I immediately recognised it and I recognised what that looks like and what that feels like to have it all bubbling under the surface; letting the audience see it, but not letting your partner see it, if that makes sense, especially when they’re responsible for it.
CB: What was it like working with Tom Sturridge, particularly when filming such emotionally intense scenes?
He is such an incredible actor. The otherworldliness of Dream that you see on screen, he brings into set. So it’s so easy to rise to his level and rise to his intensity as well. But as much as he seems like an otherworldly creature, there’s such a vulnerability to him.
And especially in his scenes with Nada, that if you really listen, it’s kind of impossible not to get an emotional reaction out of it. He’s a great partner. He always checks in between takes as well. So I just felt safe to kind of let loose. And I did.
Comics Bulletin: Because you were talking about the scenes with Tom, what was the most challenging scene that you found in the entire package of the work that you did?
I think it depends on the challenge. Emotionally, I would say either the slap scene, just because of everything she was coming in with. That’s, as a human being, where we have like maybe 100 years to live, it’s hard to fathom 10,000 years of pain and trauma. So that was hard emotionally to prepare and get into my body. The scene where the meteorite hits her people, hits her kingdom, was also really difficult emotionally.
And then physically, the goo scene was the hardest, coming out of Azazel was tough to do.
CB: Can you tell us a little bit more about the goo scene?
Yeah. So I posted some of it, but obviously you see me fighting against this membrane. So it was basically like a big rectangle and I was in my Hell outfit.
Because I’m inside of him, they put this black goo on me, all over me. And so we had two different membranes, one that wouldn’t break, so I just had to fight against over and over and over again. And then one that I could break through.
And that’s the scene you saw where Tom grabs my hand and I come out of him. We did that so many times in so many different instances. I did it in ADR as well, which was funny; I was just in a studio pretending to come out of a monster. So yeah, that’s how we filmed it. But Netflix posted a great BTS, like the VFX of me coming out, which maybe makes it make more sense.
Comics Bulletin: Goo aside, did you have a favourite costume or set in season two?
I thought her outfits were so awesome. But I think her first scene in the Kingdom, where you see her come in, is my favourite. I love the necklace and the big coat she got to wear.
And not only for my own costume, I love the costumes in that scene as a whole. I thought everybody looked incredible.
Comics Bulletin: In Tales in the Sand, it’s snowing in Nada’s kingdom. Why is it snowing? Everybody was so bewildered by that. Could you tell us a bit about the snow?
So funny enough, we were supposed to film in summer 2023, I got cast a month earlier. And then the strikes hit. We were delayed to film up until January, and we film in London so it would have been hard to build a summer set.
They adjusted and they made it this Afro-punk civilisation. And I kind of rationalised by the meteorite, when it hit the continent, completely changed the weather of that region for history to come. That’s how I rationalised it in my mind.
Comics Bulletin: There’s so many hilarious behind-the-scenes photos and clips — do you have any funny memories or moments film filming that come to mind?
The slap scene was funny. I slapped both Tom and Ernest like 20 times each. And when I started, her dress had like these frills on it. At one point, obviously I didn’t slap him, but I really went for it, and the frills, I think it was Ernest, just got him in the face. I didn’t notice it because I was busy slapping.
And I looked at him and he was just like, and everybody on set was like, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God. So we adjusted.
Comics Bulletin: We know from your socials that you’re a massive fan of Sandman in general, the comics, the show. If you couldn’t play Narda, which other character would you choose to portray?
I’m thinking about maybe the most commonly known answers is Death and Desire. So yes, Death and Desire.
I think that [Kirby Howell-Baptiste] is my favourite portrayal of Death on television or film ever. She’s amazing in the comics, but the way Kirby plays it and the warmth that she plays it with, it’s a beautiful character and I would love to play something like that. Something so otherworldly and so powerful, but so, so human at the same time.
And then Desire just sounds like a lot of fun to play. But then again, they’re so perfectly casted.
She also cites Johanna Constantine as another character she’d love to play:
I just love those powerful characters that go on solo missions, don’t let anyone too close but leave an impression with the people and places they meet every time. They can’t help but make connections. And emotionally repressed characters like that are always so interesting, you get to peel the onion along with the audience
If you had asked me like five years ago, and I had read the comics, who I wanted to play, it would be Nada. So I’m happy with where I ended up.
Comics Bulletin: Nada doesn’t get to meet everyone. If you could share another scenes with anybody else, who would you choose?
There’s a scene that was written between Lucienne and Nada, where Lucienne tells Nada a lot of Black History that she’s missed or African History that she’s missed, and she’s getting caught up. They have a conversation about what’s next for Nada and how she feels about her own mortality and humanity at that moment. Who better for Nada to see for the first time and to interact with than Lucienne, another Black woman?
Comics Bulletin: Nada leaves The Dreaming at the end of Season of Mists. It’s never revealed what she does when she walks out. What do you think Nada ended up doing?
In my head, I saw her volunteering in small communities. I don’t think she’s in New York; I think that’s a bit intense after everything she’s gone through.
I think she went back to the continent. I couldn’t tell you where, I didn’t want it to be where I’m from necessarily, but I think she’s, she’s trying to rebuild communities from where she was from.
Note: This interview has been edited for clarity.
We thank Umulisa Gahiga for her time. Outside of The Sandman, Umulisa Gahiga is working on numerous projects, including stepping behind the camera. “I’m producing a short film that we’re filming in a week that should come out soon,” she said.
The Sandman season 2 is now streaming on Netflix.
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