After years in development hell, Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman has finally transitioned from comic to screen with a new series on Netflix. The 10-episode series even dropped a surprise eleventh episode, but is that the last we’ll be seeing of The Sandman? When it comes to Season 2, we’re not dreaming.
The Sandman Season 2: Is it happening?
After months of speculation, Netflix finally confirmed in November that The Sandman is coming back for season 2.
No TV series is safe these days, but seeing as The Sandman shot to the top of Netflix’s streaming charts for weeks upon its release, this is a welcome confirmation that we’ll continue to see more of the excellent series.
Yes, it’s true: The Sandman will return to Netflix!
“There are some astonishing stories waiting for Morpheus & the rest of them… Now it’s time to get back to work. There’s a family meal ahead… And Lucifer is waiting for Morpheus to return to Hell,” says @neilhimself pic.twitter.com/TbA3hnD5f6
— Netflix (@netflix) November 3, 2022
Gaiman is undoubtedly on board for season 2 and beyond, with the author telling Bustle that they’ve thought everything out up until Season 5.
“We’ve shot footage in Season 1 that we would need if we ever get to Season 5. We know how we would do the entire Sandman storyline up to and including the last one, Sandman Overture.”
What will happen in Season 2?
The first season of The Sandman only covered the first 16 issues of Neil Gaiman’s comic, meaning there’s plenty left to explore.
Season 1 certainly left things on a cliffhanger, with the demon Azazel approaching Lucifer for permission to lead Hell’s army of demons onto the Dreaming. Lucifer promises to do something they’ve “never done before” that will bring the Dream Lord to his knees.
(Spoilers for The Sandman comics ahead)
In the comics, it’s not the demon army that does this but it is in fact Lucifer’s abdication of the role as ruler of Hell. In their absence, it becomes Dream’s responsibility to find another ruler. Given the interest in the position by many an angel, god and demon, this becomes a difficult task.
We also know that the conflict between Dream and his sibling Desire is still simmering. While Morpheus put a stop to Desire’s dream vortex within Rose Walker, there’s no doubt they will try again in the future.
Gaiman also teased a “family meal” in the season 2 confirmation, so it sounds like we’ll finally see the Endless family members reunited next season.
The Sandman: Which cast members will return in Season 2?
It’s hard to say which cast members will return in season 2 without a casting announcement, but we can make some assumptions.
Tom Sturridge as Dream is a given and it seems likely his accomplices Lucienne (Vivienne Acheampong) and Matthew the Raven (Patton Oswalt) will return too.
The other members of the Endless including Desire (Mason Alexander Park), Despair (Donna Preston) and Death (Kirby Howell-Baptiste) will no doubt show up again at some point.
Plus there are a few members of the Endless we haven’t met yet, namely Destiny, Destruction and Delirium, who could show up in future seasons and bring new cast members to the series.
Given that tease at the end of the season, we’ll probably be seeing Gwendoline Christie’s Lucifer again too and there’s precedent for Johanna Constantine (Jenna Coleman) to also reappear in the series (if not her own show).
Will there be more bonus episodes of The Sandman?
If you missed it, The Sandman received a surprise bonus episode on August 19 titled ‘A Dream of A Thousand Cats/Calliope’, which covers two much-loved stories from the comics.
While it came as a surprise to viewers, The Sandman‘s eleventh episode was apparently planned out right from the beginning. Showrunner Allan Heinberg told Variety that the 11-episode count was sold in early development.
“We sold an 11-episode order way back when, and you’ll see that if you go back and look at some of the press,” he said.
The idea behind it was that the bonus episode would reflect the one-shot nature of the original Sandman comics, which often had self-contained anthology-style issues.
“Anyone familiar with ‘Sandman’ knows that there are all these incredible stand-alone issues interspersed throughout the original run and we were determined to adapt those. We pitched everyone the notion of doing an 11th episode that would drop off-cycle and we would use these episodes to adapt those issues — but also as a love-letter to the fans,” executive producer David Goyer told Variety.
While there very much could be more bonus episodes in future seasons, Neil Gaiman confirmed this Season 1 bonus was the only one for now.
I wish. No, that’s all we’ve made so far. https://t.co/f2iMWzHWP8
— Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) August 20, 2022
So how long do we have to wait?
Now, we know a second season of The Sandman is happening, but it will still be a while away considering all the writing, filming and editing still need to be done. We’re probably looking at a 2024 release at the earliest.
Sigh, guess we’ll have to go back to dreaming or watching these similar shows in the meantime.
Watch The Sandman now on Netflix. Read our review of the first season here.
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