Netflix’s adaptation of Neil Gaiman‘s “The Sandman” will end with its upcoming second season.
“The Sandman” Season 2 has been a long time coming. The first season debuted in August 2022, and it wasn’t renewed at Netflix until November of that year. At that time, Netflix was also hesitant to label it as a second season at all, choosing instead to say it was “a continuation of ‘The Sandman’ world,” and wouldn’t commit to an episode count. Variety has confirmed the second season was intended to be the last prior to filming.
“‘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,” “The Sandman” showrunner Allan Heinberg said in a statement to Variety Friday. “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.”
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The release plan for Season 2 will not be impacted by the cancellation and the episodes are still set for a 2025 release.
Confirmation of the show’s conclusion comes on the heels of several sexual misconduct accusations leveled at Gaiman, who created “The Sandman” DC comics and developed the TV series. However, prior to the accusations first leveled against Gaiman in a Tortoise Media podcast in July 2024, sources close to “The Sandman” were already telling Variety the pricey series, produced by Warner Bros. Television for Netflix, was intending to end with its second season when production was underway in summer 2023. The reveal of Season 2 characters that were cast in May 2024 further indicated the series was jumping to the end of the comics much sooner than fans anticipated.
Following the sexual misconduct accusations, Gaiman has departed Amazon’s upcoming final season of the “Good Omens” TV adaptation, and development paused on a movie based on his “The Graveyard Book” at Disney. Most recently, Gaiman was dropped by his longtime comic book publisher Dark Horse and had his “Coraline” musical scrapped.
The second season of “The Sandman” follows the “Season of Mists” storyline from Gaiman’s comics, in which Lucifer (Gwendoline Christie) abdicates control of Hell and presents Morpheus, aka Dream (Tom Sturridge), with the key to its gates, causing many immortals to try to convince Morpheus to give the key to them.
Joining for Season 2 are Esmé Creed-Miles as Delirium, Adrian Lester as Destiny, Barry Sloane as “The Prodigal,” Ruairi O’Connor as Orpheus, Freddie Fox as Loki, Clive Russell as Odin, Laurence O’Fuarain as Thor, Ann Skelly as Nuala, Douglas Booth as Cluracan and Jack Gleeson as Puck, Indya Moore as Wanda and Steve Coogan as the voice of Barnabas the dog.
Among the Season 1 cast members returning for “The Sandman” Season 2 are Patton Oswalt as Matthew the Raven, Vivienne Acheampong as Lucienne, Christie as Lucifer Morningstar, Jenna Coleman as Johanna Constantine, Ferdinand Kingsley as Hob Gadling, Stephen Fry as Gilbert, Asim Chaudhry as Abel, Sanjeev Bhaskar as Cain, Vanesu Samunyai as Rose Walker and Razane Jammal as Lyta Hall.
“The Sandman” was developed by Gaiman, showrunner Heinberg and David S. Goyer based on the DC comics of the same name by Gaiman, Sam Keith and Mike Dringenberg. All episodes of Season 2 were directed by Jamie Childs.
Netflix has not responded to request for comment on the accusations against Gaiman.
See the first-look at second and final season of “The Sandman” below.
