Picture: Netflix / Warner Bros. Television
Netflix’s The Sandman is returning for “more episodes” (or Season 2, as we’ll call it throughout this article) after its official renewal in late 2022. With Dead Boy Detectives having just debuted on Netflix, here’s the latest on everything we know about the forthcoming season, including all the new cast confirmed so far, what we can expect, and lots more.
The 10-episode first season of The Sandman arrived on August 5th, 2022, covering the first two volumes of Neil Gaiman’s seminal comics, Preludes and Nocturnes and The Doll’s House. Following the first season’s release, a bonus animated episode (Dream of a Thousand Cats/Calliope) dropped on August 19th, 2022.
What we saw in the first season of The Sandman merely scratches the surface, and don’t forget the universe on Netflix itself is expanding with the first season of Dead Boy Detectives set in the same universe.
When was The Sandman renewed for Season 2?
A renewal seemed imminent on November 2nd when, in a hastily deleted tweet (with a 21-second video clip), DC Comics let slip that we would get more episodes. Netflix then confirmed the renewal hours later with an official statement.
According to Netflix at the time of the renewal:
- The Sandman universe will continue to expand.
- The iconic series will return with even more episodes and stories adapted from multiple The Sandman graphic novels.
- The episode count and story details are currently under wraps.
Netflix didn’t officially call the show’s future “Season 2” but rather “more episodes.”
“Netflix has not gone on record as calling it ‘Season 2’ on purpose,” Mason Alexander Park has explained regarding the show’s future terminology. “And so, I will, from now on and in this conversation, refer to it as ‘more episodes’ because that is technically what has been announced.”
Neil Gaiman, the creator of the comics and an executive producer on the Netflix series, said in a statement on the renewal:
“Millions upon millions of people have welcomed and watched and loved The Sandman on Netflix, from established Sandman fans to people who were simply curious, and then became obsessed with the Lord of Dreams, his family and their goings-on. It gives me unbelievable pleasure to say that, working with Netflix and Warner Bros., Allan Heinberg, David Goyer and I will be bringing even more of The Sandman stories to life. There are some astonishing stories waiting for Morpheus and the rest of them (not to mention more members of the Endless Family to meet). Nobody is going to be happier about this than the Sandman cast and crew: they are the biggest Sandman fans there are. And now it’s time to get back to work. There’s a family meal ahead, after all. And Lucifer is waiting for Morpheus to return to Hell…”
Neil Gaiman – Photo by Monica Schipper/Getty Images for Audible
Showrunner Allan Heinberg told Netflix:
“I’m profoundly grateful to Netflix and to Warner Bros. — to the artists and crew who made our first 11 episodes so magical — and to the extraordinary fans of The Sandman, who advocated tirelessly — endlessly — on the show’s behalf and made it possible for us to continue telling Morpheus’ story,”
How well did The Sandman perform on Netflix?
Netflix Hourly Data for The Sandman
We can assess the show’s performance and benchmark it against other shows thanks to many online resources.
The most significant numbers we get from Netflix are the hourly viewing figures for the show, which we get every Tuesday. Over a month later, the show remains in the top 5 English shows streaming on Netflix. It decays between 30% and 41% each week.
Between July 31 and September 18 (seven weeks), The Sandman had 393.14 million hours watched on Netflix globally before dropping out of Netflix’s global top 10.
Here’s how the show hours watched break down week to week:
| Week Period | Hours Viewed(M) | Rank | Week in Top 10 |
|---|---|---|---|
| July 31st, 2022 to August 7th, 2022 | 69,480,000 | 1 | 1 |
| August 7th, 2022 to August 14th, 2022 | 127,500,000 (+84%) | 1 | 2 |
| August 14th, 2022 to August 21st, 2022 | 77,240,000 (-39%) | 1 | 3 |
| August 21st, 2022 to August 28th, 2022 | 53,790,000 (-30%) | 2 | 4 |
| August 28th, 2022 to September 4th, 2022 | 33,320,000 (-38%) | 3 | 5 |
| September 4th, 2022 to September 11th, 2022 | 19,590,000 (-41%) | 5 | 6 |
| September 11th, 2022 to September 18th, 2022 | 12,220,000 (-38%) | 10 | 7 |
In our weekly top 10 reports, What’s on Netflix contributor Frédéric Durand used CVE metrics to compare the show against other English-language dramas. He put the show at a likely renewal, with it tracking better than The Lincoln Lawyer and only just behind Vikings: Valhalla.
CVE Viewership of The Sandman in week 5 compared to other English-language Netflix shows – those in red are canceled, green are renewed, and black pending.
Nielsen Data for The Sandman
We’ve got a few week’s worth of viewing hour data for The Sandman via Nielsen’s top 10s; here’s how it breaks down:
| Week Ending | Nielsen Original Position | Minutes | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| August 7th | 3 | 1,021M | 17.02M |
| August 14th | 1 | 1,386M | 23.10M |
| August 21st | 1 | 946M | 15.77M |
| August 28th | 3 | 681M | 11.35M |
Nielsen captures viewing hours in the United States and pits Netflix shows against titles from Amazon Prime, Disney+, HBO Max, Hulu, and Apple TV+.
What to expect from The Sandman Season 2 on Netflix
Warning: Spoilers for the comic book are ahead!
New Characters to Feature in Season 2 of The Sandman
Pictures: DC Comics
Let’s begin with the exclusive news we posted in March 2023 that casting was underway for four significant characters from the comics.
Characters that will feature in season 2 include:
- Delirium – Female 18-27 – The youngest of the Endless, Delerium inhabits a sometimes ecstatic, sometimes incoherent realm, but she is always actively trying to navigate through it.
- Destruction – Male 36-42 – The Endless sibling who abandoned his realm and is described as rugged, physically imposing, disarmingly handsome with bright, inquisitive eyes, a hearty laugh, and a generous heart.
- Destiny – Male 40-50 – Eldest of the Endless and described as a stoic, all-knowing, monk-like figure who spends his days walking barefoot down the paths of his labyrinth garden.
- Wanda – Transgender female late 20s to early 40s – A driver and security agent for an exclusive high-end travel firm. Will serve as a personal guide and liaison for Dream and Delirium during their time in the waking world.
What does this mean for the story? Well, as SwirlyWords speculates, the intention will likely be to adapt parts of Brief Lives and Seasons of Mists in the new batch of episodes.
Norse gods to feature in The Sandman season 2
What’s on Netflix can also reveal that Netflix is/was casting the following roles:
- Thor
- Odin
- Loki
- King Auberon
- Queen Titania
- Eurydice
- Persephone
- Hades
- Orpheus
In the case of Thor, we’ve been provided with the following character description:
“The Norse Storm God. His hair and beard are unkempt, his body is a mountain, and his voice is thunder. He carries his hammer, Mjollnir, with which he’ll happily threaten anyone in his path. Thor is brusque, rude, quick to anger, and is always game for a fuck or a fight.”
Episode 11 acts as a bridge for Season 2 of The Sandman
Responding to a question on Tumblr about why the last episode of the show has so little to do with the rest of the series, Neil Gaiman responded, “Think of Episode 11 as the bridge into Season 2.”
The Sandman season 2 will combine several short stories
In June 2023, a video circulated of Neil Gaiman talking about the upcoming season:
“It’s an awful lot of fun, because we’re taking some of the short stories and buidling them inot the body of hte main thing. We’ve got ways of flowing from one storyline into the next storyline that we didn’t necessary have. So it’s built and it’s shaped and it’s constructed.”
Confirmed The Sandman Season 2 storylines: Season of Mists and Brief Lives
Season of Mists will undoubtedly be season 2’s most significant story arc.
One of the most popular storylines from the entire comic run begins with an Endless family meeting.
This will be the first time we see the family all together, except for Destruction, but that’s an altogether different story. Bear in mind that so far, we’ve only met four of the seven endless: Dream (Tom Sturridge), Death (Kirby Howell-Baptiste), Desire (Mason Alexander Park), and Despair (Donna Preston).
During the meeting, we once again see Desire scheming. They tease Morpheus about his treatment of his former lover Nada, whom he condemned to Hell. Eventually, he gives in and travels to Hell to free her. Yet, when he arrives in Hell, he finds the realm empty.
Lucifer has grown tired and abandoned Hell, passing the Key to Hell and, therefore, its responsibility to Dream. Of course, Morpheus has his realm to rule over; he cannot rule Hell. As a result, back in The Dreaming, he is greeted by various immortal beings, each vying to become the next Ruler of Hell.
Picture: Netflix
The Brief Lives story arc is also expected to play a significant role in season 2, given the characters we know that will feature thus far.
In the Brief Lives arc, the central characters are Dream and his sister, Delirium, who decides to embark on a quest to find their long-lost brother, Destruction, who has been absent for centuries. Delirium believes that finding Destruction will unite their family and restore their fractured relationships.
We’ve also speculated that season 2 could cover The Song of Orpheus to be adapted too.
Gaiman has previously rhapsodised about some of the things we can expect from season 2. “A journey is beginning that will take us from Destiny’s garden to Hell, from the Heart of the Dreaming to Ancient Greece and revolutionary France, and from there to places even I cannot quite imagine on the screen,” he wrote in a letter to fans. “I will be patient. Good things are coming.”
New and Returning Cast for The Sandman Season 2
Let’s begin with all the confirmed returning cast members for The Sandman season 2 so far!
- 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
Here’s where things get exciting. The new cast list for season 2 is massive.
Let’s begin with the confirmed new faces by Netflix themselves, where they confirmed three new faces who will be part of the Endless on May 20th:
- Esme Creed-Miles (Hanna) as Delirium
- Barry Sloane (Call of Duty) as Destruction
- Adrian Lester (Hustle) as Destiny
The Prodigal, Delerium and Destiny in The Sandman season 2 – Picture: Netflix
Beyond that, thanks to sleuthing by ourselves and other sources, we can give you a bunch of other names set to appear.
- Garry Cooper (House of the Dragon) as Hades
- Indya Moore (Escape Room: Tournament of Champions) as Wanda
- Ruairi O’Connor (The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It) as Orpheus
- Amber Rose Revah (The Punisher) as TBD
- Charlotte Bate (I Think We Are Alone) as TBD
- Daphne Alexander (The Fourth Kind) as Bromie
- Jordan Adene (Young Wallander) as Donnie Capax (expected to be a variation on Danny the son of Bernie Capax)
- Paul Brennen (Men in Black: International) as Captain Carnot
- Freddie Fox (The Great, Slow Horses) as Loki
- Wil Coban (The Boys in the Boat) as TBD
- Andre Flynn (The Musketeers) as TBD
- Joel Burman as TBD
- Gavin Spokes (House of the Dragon, SCOOP) as Jeremy
- Kayode Akinyemi (Vikings: Valhalla) as Kris
- Daniel Hoffmann-Gill (The Nevers) as Guillaume
- Tafline Steen (Miss Scarlett and the Duke) as Xantho
Pictures courtesy of agencies of the respective actors/actresses
How many episodes will be in Season 2 of The Sandman?
In April 2024, we learned that the second season of The Sandman would have 12 episodes.
In addition, we got several episode titles for the first of those six episodes:
- 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.
Where is The Sandman Season 2 in Production?
Rumors of a Summer 2023 production start for The Sandman began with Mason Alexander Park telling fans at the Fan Expo in San Francisco that they expected to begin filming in the summer.
In March 2023, we learned that filming was scheduled for June 2023 through October 2023. After a holiday break, shooting would return from January 2024 to April 2024. These two periods of filming will be referred to as block one and block two. The series’ working title remains Essex.
It is unclear whether the next batch of episodes will have a similar budget (reportedly $15 million an episode).
Cr. Laurence Cendrowicz/Netflix © 2022
In June 2023, we got confirmation that filming had started, with filming in London at Shepperton Studios and on-location in late June 2023 in Dorset. Production teams were spotted on the Lulworth Estate, and more filming occurred on the Durdle Door beach. Additional eyewitness reports suggest that some filming was also taking place in Parkstone Cemetery in Poole.
Tom Sturridge, returning as Dream, and what many speculate to be Ruairi O’Connor (The Morning Show, The Spanish Princess), who has joined the cast, were spotted filming on the beach.
Jamie Childs returns to the director’s chair in season 2.
Picture: BNPS
Of course, one thing to note about the production is that the WGA strike will likely play a role throughout production. Neil Gaiman has been in vocal support of the writer’s strike throughout and provided fans with an update on Tumblr about how the strike could affect production, saying it would ultimately have a negative effect, saying it’ll be “shooting without anyone rewriting the scripts, which were frozen as of May 31st.”
All filming came to a grinding halt in July 2023 because SAG-AFTRA began striking on July 13th. Gaiman noted they’d shot two weeks’ worth of footage before production halted.
In another post, Gaiman said:
“SAG-AFTRA strike is on. Sandman has stopped shooting completely, along with everything else that was squeaking by without writers. I hope that the AMPTP sees reason and gets back to the table with the actors and the writers. I have no reason at this point to think they will see reason.”
Picture: BNPS
In late November 2023, when filming picked back up, Netflix shared the first official look behind the scenes on The Sandman season 2.
In February 2024, it was reported that the series was filming throughout Brighton, including the iconic Royal Pavilion.
Filming on this next stint will continue through the summer of 2024, with the expected wrap date for The Sandman season 2 being August 31st, 2024.
Picture: Netflix
When will Season 2 of The Sandman be released on Netflix?
Netflix has not yet provided a release date or window for The Sandman season 2.
The series was notably absent from Netflix’s February 2024 Next on Netflix series preview, which confirmed over 90 new and returning shows and movies.
At the moment, we’re expecting the series to be back on our screens safely by 2025. Our estimate is that we’ll see the show return sometime in mid-2025 (maybe around July).
Given how season 2 is filming, we’re currently inclined to think that we may be getting batches of episodes for The Sandman, but of course, that’s just speculation for now.
In the meantime, Warner Bros. plans to release season 1 as a 4K UHD release (alongside a DVD and Blu-ray) in November 2023.
Would you like to see season 2 of The Sandman on Netflix? Let us know in the comments below.