Picture: Netflix
Netflix’s The Sandman premiered two and a half years ago. The fantasy series was subsequently renewed for another season a few months later. Confirmed for a release in 2025 at Next on Netflix 2025, showrunner Allan Heinberg has confirmed that the show will conclude with its second season.
The Sandman arrived on Netflix on August 5th, 2022, covering the first two volumes of the seminal comics Preludes and Nocturnes and The Doll’s House. Following the season’s release, a bonus animated episode (A Dream of a Thousand Cats/Calliope) dropped on August 19th, 2022, bringing the total episode count up to 11. The series follows Dream of the Endless (Tom Sturridge), the entity that rules over the realm we all visit when we fall asleep. When he’s captured and imprisoned for several decades, his kingdom, The Dreaming, falls to ruin. Thus, when he finally escapes, he faces the daunting task of rebuilding his kingdom, starting with reclaiming the three precious artifacts stolen from him: his helm, ruby, and pouch of sand. It’s a quest that takes him to the depths of Hell and beyond.
This merely scratches the surface of what The Sandman is all about. It’s an epic, grand adventure throughout space and time, with surprises around every corner.
The Sandman showrunner Allan Heinberg confirms season 2 is the final season
Netflix recently announced that The Sandman would conclude with its second season. The news was delivered by showrunner Alan Heinberg. Read his full comment on the announcement below, per Variety:
‘The Sandman’ series has always been focused exclusively on Dream’s story, and back in 2022, when we looked at the remaining Dream material from the comics, we knew we only had enough story for one more season. We are extremely grateful to Netflix for bringing the team all back together and giving us the time and resources to make a faithful adaptation in a way that we hope will surprise and delight the comics’ loyal readers as well as fans of our show.”
This doesn’t come as too much of a surprise to fans. We previously reported that the show was filming some of the comic’s final issues.
The Sandman Season 2: Everything Else We Know So Far
The Sandman was renewed in November 2022, undergoing a long and delayed production as a result of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes of 2023. Fans have long been theorising about what will be covered in season 2. During Geeked Week 2024, Netflix revealed a behind-the-scenes teaser for the upcoming season, showing off it’s main story arc, Season of Mists, which sees Dream return to Hell to confront Lucifer (Gwendoline Christie).
Read the official longline for the second and final season:
“Dream of the Endless — after a fateful reunion with his family — must face one impossible decision after another as he attempts to save himself, his kingdom and the waking world from the epic fallout of his past mistakes.”
Beyond that, it’s expected that season 2 will run for 12 episodes. Some storylines that we know so far include: A Song of Orpheus, Brief Lives, Thermidor, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Many of the original cast will return, including:
- Dream, played by Tom Sturridge
- Lucienne, played by Vivienne Acheampong
- Mervyn, played by Mark Hamill
- Lucifer, played by Gwendoline Christie
- Cain, played by Sanjeev Bhaskar
- Abel, played by Asim Chaudhry
- Death, played by Kirby Howell-Baptiste
- Despair, played by Donna Preston
- Desire, played by Mason Alexander Park
- Matthew the Raven, played by Patton Oswalt
- Azazel (now played by Will Coban)
- Nada (now played by Umulisa Gahiga)
We will also be introduced to myriad new characters, such as the remaining entities of the Endless family, key Gods and figures from Greek and North myth, and more. There’s a lot of big names involved. Check it out:
- Delirium (Esme Creed Miles)
- Destruction (Barry Sloane)
- Destiny (Adrian Lester)
- Wanda (Indya Moore)
- Thor (Laurence O’Fuarain)
- Loki (Freddie Fox)
- Odin (Clive Russell)
- Orpheus (Ruairi O’Connor)
- Barnabas (Steve Coogan)
- Nuala (Ann Skelly)
- Puck (Jack Gleeson)
- Cluracan (Douglas Booth)
- Hades (Garry Cooper)
- Persephone (Antonia Desplat)
- Goddess Ishtar (Amber Rose Revah)
Our full list of new and returning characters can be found here.
The Sandman season 2 episode titles
The titles for the first six episodes of the season are:
- The Song of Orpheus, named after the special issue of the same name. Needless to say, this one will focus on Ruairi O’Connor’s Orpheus
- More Devils Than Vast Hell Can Hold, referencing the issue A Midsummer Night’s Dream
- Brief Lives, named after the issue of the same name
- Family Blood, likely referencing “spilling family blood”, something Dream seeks to avoid
- The Ruler of Hell, referencing Gwendoline Christie’s Lucifer. Or perhaps Hell will have a new ruler? We won’t spoil.
- Season of Mists, named after the comic collection of the same name. Previously mentioned Odin, Thor and Loki are most likely to appear in this episode.
When does The Sandman season 2 arrive on Netflix?
Netflix has confirmed that The Sandman season 2 will premiere on Netflix in 2025. As of writing, no specific release date has been announced, although our sources tell us the series is eying a summer 2025 release, with July being most likely (we specifically heard July 24th), but that date could shift, and Empire is now reporting a March release so keep it locked here on What’s on Netflix for the latest.
Rating: TV-MA
