The Sandman Season 2 Volume 1 TV Review: The epic fantasy series returns with expansive new tales (2025)

Plot: After a fateful reunion with his family, Dream of the Endless 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 misdeeds. To make amends, Dream must confront longtime friends and foes, gods, monsters, and mortals. But the path to forgiveness is full of unexpected twists and turns, and true absolution may cost Dream everything.

Review: Despite a long road to the screen, The Sandman‘s first season resonated with fans and critics and easily earned a second volume. After some tangential issues behind the scenes, Netflix revealed that the sophomore run of the adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s comic book series would also be its last. Split into two volumes with a special finale episode, The Sandman will dominate the month of July while leading fans to wonder what could be next in the world of The Endless. Thankfully, the first volume of season two of The Sandman is a fantastic expansion of the world brought to life in season one, with new faces joining the omnipotent family of beings who watch over humanity. Led by Tom Sturridge and Kirby, The Sandman is better and bolder but also very different from the first season, making this truncated series run all the more bittersweet.

The first season of The Sandman adapted eighteen issues of the original seventy-five-issue run of the DC Comics series, collected as the first three graphic novels. The first volume of the new season of The Sandman adapts eighteen issues as well, but over just six episodes. Skipping a couple of the collected short stories, Volume 1 is primarily based on the story arcs known as “Season of Mists” and “Brief Lives”, two of my favorites in the entire series. With each storyline given three episodes, they manage to tell faithful adaptations of the source material without spending a whole season covering them. By keeping the stories tight while also maintaining the essential milestone moments that fans of the comics have been waiting to see, this first volume covers enough material to pave the way for the second and final volume of this season to bring the story of Morpheus (Tom Sturridge) to a conclusion.

While season one focused on the feud between Morpheus and The Corinthian (Boyd Holbrook) and the return of the sonambulic diety to The Dreaming, it combined multiple story arcs and shorter stories that pulled in Johanna Constantine (Jenna Coleman), Lucifer Morningstar (Gwendoline Christie), and Morpheus’ siblings including Death (Kirby), Desire (Mason Alexander Park), and Despair (Donna Preston). This season sees more of The Endless, including Destiny (Adrian Lester), Delirium (Esme Creed-Miles), and Destruction (Barry Sloane), who all figure into the entire volume. The first arc finds Destiny assembling The Endless, which prompts Morpheus to seek his first love, Nada (Deborah Oyelade), in Hell, only to find Lucifer has closed it for business. The return of Gwendoline Christie in the story that would set up Lucifer’s spin-off series, loosely adapted as a FOX police procedural starring Tom Ellis, is a rich tale that blends Shakespeare, demons, faeries, and Norse mythology. It is an excellent stretch of storytelling that includes denizens of The Dreaming seen in the first season, but in a new context that is more romance and fantasy than the horror elements we saw last time around.

The second arc is a bit of a mixed bag. It opens with Delirium pleading with Morpheus to help track down their brother, Destruction. This sends them to the waking world before shifting to a retelling of the Greek myth of Orpheus, done in a manner that fits beautifully and sadly into The Sandman mythos. The three episodes of this arc feel a bit more disjointed while still charting the course for the second and final volume of the series and featuring appearances from more first-season characters as well as some favorites from the comics like Ruby (Indya Moore) and Ishtar (Amber Rose Revah) and the return of Johanna Constantine. Not as strong as the first three episodes, the sixth episode ends in a manner that will have audiences theorizing about what they will see when the next volume drops in just three weeks. My theory is that the final volume will adapt the “A Game of You” and “The Kindly Ones” storylines with a potential truncated take on “The Wake”. Comics fans will know what I mean when they see these episodes.

The first season of The Sandman boasted seven directors, including The Substance helmer Coralie Fargeat, with Jamie Childs directing the first three episodes. This season finds consistency with all twelve episodes coming from Childs. Co-showrunner Allan Heinberg wrote the first of these first six episodes along with Amen Rozsa, Alexander Wise, Austin Guzman, Shadi Petosky, and Jim Campolongo on the subsequent five. Unsurprisingly, Neil Gaiman has no writing credits for the season. Still, he only participated in writing the first episode of the first season alongside Heinberg and co-creator David S. Goyer. While the controversy surrounding Gaiman will undoubtedly impact how some approach this material, especially considering the sexual nature of some of the stories, it does not alter the quality of the finished product. If anything, the best parts of Gaiman’s creations speak for themselves, as these stories are perfectly aligned with the 1990s era in which they were published, along with modernized elements that are perfect for younger audiences.

While I have yet to see the closing half of this season, I enjoyed the first volume of season two far more than I did the initial run of The Sandman. I may be biased as these episodes cover my favorite stories, but the cast additions are perfect for the world, and the stories never overstay their welcome. A lot in The Sandman comics would not translate to a linear narrative and have been excised from the main storyline, while giving viewers enough tangential material to keep this world expansive and interesting. Hardcore fans will likely be concerned that with over fifty issues left to adapt over only six more episodes, they may not see some of their favorite tales brought to life. The abrupt end of The Sandman after two seasons feels premature, but this is an excellent example of a series going out on top. Whatever your feelings about Neil Gaiman, The Sandman is a labor of love for the cast and writers who have taken the author’s source material and forged a beautiful series.

The Sandman Season Two Volume 1 premieres on July 3rd on Netflix. Volume 2 premieres July 24th with a special episode debuting on July 31st.

Source: JoBlo.com