The Sandman Season 2: Every Ending Is a Beginning

Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman graphic novel series first hit shelves in 1989 and ended in 1996, leading to 20 years of speculation over whether it would ever receive the cinematic treatment. Netflix proved skeptics wrong, producing the series with creative staff who deeply respected the source material. Season 1, available now, was a mostly faithful adaptation that preserved much of the ethereal tone of Gaiman’s comics.

Season 2 of The Sandman is now available, and for the most part, it follows in the footsteps of its excellent predecessor. As with the comics it adapts, Netflix’s Sandman mixes anthology and serial storytelling, while keeping an eye on a larger Morpheus-centric story. As with Gaiman’s series, a deeper magic permeates the series, and you have to suspend disbelief to buy into the overarching conflict.

In January, Netflix announced that Season 2 would be the last. Rumors emerged that Netflix ended The Sandman because of allegations of sexual misconduct against Gaiman, which he has publicly denied. On X, showrunner Allan Heinberg (Wonder Woman) confirmed that two seasons were the plan all along, and Netflix would have returned for Season 3 had there been more Sandman stories to adapt. Heinberg added that in the writers’ room, they always felt like there was enough material to stretch for two seasons, but no more, and in retrospect, they were right.

Season 1 adapted Preludes and Nocturnes and The Doll’s House, with bonus episodes based on the two-issue story “Dream of a Thousand Cats” and the poem “Calliope” from the collection Dream Country. Season 2 is mostly based on Seasons of Mists, Brief Lives, The Kindly Ones, and The Wake, with major elements from Fables and Reflections (“The Song of Orpheus” and elements of “Thermidor”), as well as the Emmy Award-winning “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” from Dream Country. The bonus episode is based on the 1993 self-contained Sandman spinoff Death: The High Cost of Living. Elements of A Game of You and some of the shorter stories remain unused in The Sandman, although neither of those omissions has much impact on the long-term story of the Dream King.

Season 2 opens with Morpheus (Tom Sturridge) finishing up the reconstruction of the Dreaming following the resolution of the Vortex crisis at the end of Season 1. While Dream is working on repairs, he receives a rare visit from his sibling Destiny (Adrian Lester). Destiny, Death (Kirby Howell-Baptiste), Desire (Mason Alexander Park), Despair (Donna Preston), and Delirium (Esmé Creed-Miles) all sit down for a family meeting in the second episode. During the meeting, Morpheus receives word that the First People’s queen, Nada (Umulisa Gahiga), is in trouble and needs his help.

Nada, who he had a past romantic relationship with and later exiled to Hell, forces Morpheus to once again square off with Lucifer (Gwendolyn Christie), who still holds a grudge from her Season 1 defeat. However, rather than fighting each other, Lucifer surprises Morpheus by retiring from her role as Hell’s ruler and giving Dream the key to her empty palace to find the next ruler among several eager and unsavory candidates, including Odin, Order, Chaos, and the demon Azazel.

Delirium, who is moping about her long-lost brother Destruction’s (Barry Sloane) disappearance in the second episode, also drags Dream along on their search. As Delirium increasingly pulls Dream’s strings, he heads into the future and toward his fate as he spills the blood of his own family and attracts the attention of the Kindly Ones.

Highlights, Low Points, and Final Thoughts

Production values remain high with strong casting and visuals that are a joy to watch, with many beautifully rendered elements that recall the pages of the original graphic novels. Pacing has also been a frequent criticism of Sandman, but it is mostly deliberate; it’s very episodic and is trying to capture Gaiman’s dense and multilayered storytelling in six or seven hours.

“The Sound of Her Wings” episode features a nod to the highly controversial “American Dream” issues and “The Hunt” and “The Sacrifice” one-shots by depicting the mass murder of minority groups, including gypsies, in 1492 Europe. Morpheus’ plight in the end feels a bit flimsy at times, but the season overcomes its flaws, and the final episodes feature some truly emotional and satisfying moments.

The weakest episode is probably “Time and Night,” in which Morpheus flies to his parents, Time (Rufus Sewell) and Night (Tanya Moodie), to ask for help with his problems. In the comics, the Endless are the children of Time and Night, but these sections play like a bad therapy session, and even Sewell can’t quite overcome their terrible dialogue.

Favorite moments include Lucifer challenging Dream to cut off her wings; the goddess Ishtar (Amber Rose Revah) casting off her regal armor and adornments and dancing in her natural goddess form for the last time; Dream having to explain to William Shakespeare (Vincent Franklin) that he has to write The Tempest; and a reformed Corinthian falling in love with Johanna Constantine (Jenna Coleman). Other standout scenes include Orpheus weeping as he plays his lyre in the Underworld to ease his grief; Dream’s mercy killing of his son; and the Furies unmaking Fiddler’s Green (Stephen Fry), Mervyn Pumpkinhead (Mark Hamill), and Abel (Asim Chaudhry) in righteous fury.

Dream’s ending is bittersweet, but he goes out with dignity, taking Death’s hand one final time as he slips away to be replaced by Daniel Hall (Jacob Anderson), the only human ever born in the Dreaming. Daniel has no memory of the events, but he is every bit the hero his brother was and will be needed in his new role. Daniel’s Endless siblings both mourn the passing of Morpheus and welcome Daniel.