Netflix's The Sandman has fans divided over how you pronounce 'Constantine'

Netflix's newest hit, The Sandman, has ranked first on the platform's top ten, but it's left everyone with one burning question.

How the f**k do you pronounce 'Constantine'?

If you're not sure what we're talking about, Jenna Coleman's character in the show is called Johanna Constantine and the pronunciation of her name has sparked a Twitter debate.

First off, let's catch you up to speed on the new series, in case you're among the small percent of people who's not watched.

The Sandman, released on 5 August, is based on the DC comic series of the same name, with both the source material and the show helmed by Neil Gaiman.

The dark fantasy series centres on Morpheus, aka Dream (Tom Sturridge), a cosmic being who controls all dreams as he journeys through different worlds and timelines to fix the various mistakes he's made.

Sounds like us after a night out.

In the third episode of the series, we're introduced to Johanna Constantine (Jenna Coleman), who is a homage to John Constantine - a fan favourite from the comics.

To be clear, Johanna and John are separate characters, despite them having marked similarities.

And the new series sees two versions of Johanna come to life, her in the present day as a super-cool necromancer and an 18th-century character who approaches Dream for immortality.

While you'd think confusion surrounding Johanna would be related to the different timelines, it's actually to do with the pronunciation of her name.

In the series, Johanna's last name is pronounced 'Constan-tine'.

But, some people insist that it should be 'Constan-teen,' and people felt so passionate about the pronunciation they took to Twitter to comment.

One user said: "Every time they say “Constantine” in Sandman, I have to fight the urge to yell back “ConstanTEEN”, a la Young Frankenstein. Always fun when your mental pronunciations are different."

While another added: "I love Gaiman. I love the Sandman, but I refuse to say it ConstanTYNE. ConstanTEEN, end of story."

A third added: "Gonna be honest, I'm still not ok with The Sandman peeps pronouncing 'Constantine' as ConstanTYNE instead of the more common ConstanTEEN."

And while these fans are clearly passionate, they're also very, very wrong.

While, typically, Constantine is normally said as 'teen' rather than 'tyne' there is actually a reason for the series' pronunciation of the name.

It's canon, with Gaiman saying in a 2021 tweet: "In the comics he pronounced it Constantyne and people who pronounced it Constanteen either did it through ignorance or to tease him (like Mad Hettie). On TV and films it's the other way around."

So, that clears up that debate, and you can watch the Netflix hit knowing the pronunciation is correct.