There’s some good news for any fans of The Sandman over on Netflix. Despite some uncertainty about whether the show would be renewed, Netflix has finally made a decision and renewed the show for that all-important second season (opens in new tab).
While The Sandman proved itself to be popular, hanging around in the Netflix top 10 for several weeks after release, the renewal was never a sure thing. Showrunner Neil Gaiman (opens in new tab), writer of the original Sandman comics, said Netflix was struggling to make a decision one way or the other because people weren’t binge-watching the show.
Sandman Season 1 dropped Aug 5th. The data harvesting has only just finished - and is complicated by a lot of people not binge-watching it, but spreading it out, letting episodes sink in before watching the next. Telling @netflix to hurry up won't make decisions s happen faster. https://t.co/T69cV45r7WSeptember 21, 2022
So while people were watching the show in great numbers, they were taking their time with it. The amount of early binge-watching has always been one of Netflix’s key metrics, and show-creators have pointed out that binged shows appear more popular to the Netflix decision-maker; Gaiman is one of them (opens in new tab).
It does, yes. Because they are looking at "completion rates". So people watching it at their own pace don't show up. https://t.co/62kdhvHoICAugust 21, 2022
It’s unclear when Sandman’s second season will air, how many episodes there will be or who might be joining the cast. However, The Sandman Twitter account has been teasing some of Dream’s future adventures, including a return to Hell and a “family meal."
That means season 2 could feature more of The Endless, and the first appearances of Destiny and Delirium. Not destruction, though. We may not see him until season 3 or possibly even season 4.
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
As for what happens beyond the second season, we don’t know, and presumably neither does Netflix. The streamer’s reputation for being very cancel-happy doesn’t bode well for The Sandman’s future, and Gaiman has noted (opens in new tab) that “Sandman is a really expensive show.”
However, Gaiman has also revealed there are safeguards (opens in new tab), should the show be cancelled too early, which includes migrating to a totally different network (opens in new tab). And while he freely admits that those safeguards were developed in 2019, and may now be out of date, it’s still a little spark of hope. As we saw in Dream’s battle with Lucifer, hope is a powerful thing.
But we needn’t worry about that for now. Sandman is coming back for a second season, and that’s news that should be celebrated.
The Sandman's full 11-episode first season is available on Netflix right now. Multiple Tom's Guide writers enjoyed watching it, so it's well worth checking out if you haven't done already.
