It's time for fans of The Sandman to stop dreaming – Netflix has officially renewed its TV adaptation of the hit comic series for a second season.
After months of deliberation, Netflix has given Neil Gaiman, Allan Heinberg, and company the go-ahead to make another season of The Sandman. The announcement was made on Twitter on November 2, just hours after a now-deleted tweet from DC Comics all-but-confirmed that the fantasy Netflix series would be returning to our screens (and our dreams).
Yes, it’s true: The Sandman will return to NetflixSays @neilhimself: “There are some astonishing stories waiting for Morpheus and the rest of them…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” pic.twitter.com/WKiWp7IDkkNovember 3, 2022
In a press release, Neil Gaiman – The Sandman's original creator and executive producer on Netflix's adaptation – expressed his delight over the show's renewal before teasing what fans can expect from the series' next entry.
“Millions upon millions of people have welcomed, watched and loved The Sandman on Netflix,” he said. “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…”
The rumours are true. Netflix is thrilled that so many of you have been watching Sandman, and the thing we were all hoping would happen… has indeed happened… pic.twitter.com/zc5CrhsdZKNovember 3, 2022
Understandably, there's no release date for The Sandman season 2 yet, nor has Netflix confirmed how many episodes the next season will contain. However, the streaming giant hinted that the fictional world Gaiman created will “continue to expand”, suggesting that there may be spin-offs and more one-off episodic specials – such as season 1's secret 11th entry – to come.
It's unclear which comic books The Sandman's second season will pull from, too, but Netflix teased that its popular TV adaptation will “return with even more episodes and stories to be adapted from multiple The Sandman graphic novels”. Showrunner Allan Heinberg previously confirmed that season 2 would heavily draw from the fourth graphic novel, aka Season of Mists. However, given that The Sandman season 1 comprised stories from the first three volumes in Gaiman's seminal works, the show's next outing is sure to pull from other books, including A Game of You or Fables and Reflections.
Analysis: a nightmare scenario no more
The Sandman season 1 was released on August 5 and quickly became one of Netflix's hottest properties of 2022. The show was streamed for almost 70 million hours in the first few days post-release, and gained further traction in its first two weeks with more than 200 million hours streamed by August 21. It took a whole month for The Sandman's first season to officially drop out of Netflix's Top 10 most popular TV shows list (opens in new tab) – proof that Netflix's global fanbase was enthralled with Morpheus and company.
It's unsurprising, then, that many clamored for Netflix to renew the series for another outing. Despite its evident popularity, though, fans of The Sandman were made to wait almost three months – from the show's initial release – for the streaming company to greenlight another season.
With every passing week, viewers became increasingly concerned about the prospects of a second season. And it's easy to see why – Netflix has had a habit for canceling some of its most beloved shows before their time is up, regardless of how well they performed. Add in the pricey production costs of The Sandman – Gaiman himself said it was a “really expensive show (opens in new tab)” to make – and a second season was never a formality.
Still, the nightmarish wait for news on The Sandman season 2 is finally over. If nothing else, we'll be getting another batch of episodes, and that's great news. In our review of The Sandman season 1, we said the series was “oh-so-nearly brilliant”, so we're excited to see how Gaiman, Netflix, and company can make its next season even better.
For more Netflix-based content, check out our exclusive interview feature with The Sandman's cast, Gaiman, and Heinberg. Alternatively, read up on the best Netflix movies and best Netflix documentaries around.
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