I Was Swept Away By Netflix’s Fantasy Epic In A Season With A Clearer Emotional Throughline

July 3, 2025

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After three years, The Sandman is back for season 2, Vol. 1, and while its legacy has been clouded in the time since it was last on the air, audiences will want to see the story through. This will be the last season of The Sandman, but season 2 can and does invest in its characters, performers, and magical set pieces in an attempt to give the narrative back to the people who deserve it: the fans.

The Sandman season 1 set the tone for a vast, ambitious fantasy project that could’ve put Netflix on a level playing field with the streamers who have been investing in the genre for a long time. However, even without the controversies happening behind the scenes, The Sandman is an expensive lightning-in-a-bottle TV show. It’s a miracle only Dream could think up that we’re finally getting season 2. This makes it even easier to sit back and enjoy the episodes we do have, as fans of the story shouldn’t miss its emotional conclusion.

The Sandman Introduces New Faces, Revisits Familiar Ones & Grapples With Its Humanity

Dream Has Changed A Lot & He’s Still Growing In Season 2

Tom Sturridge, as dark and brooding as ever, gets a few chances to smile this season while playing the self-serious Dream in the first half of The Sandman season 2. He, like all the actors in the series, is more than happy to lose himself in the otherworldly aspects of his character. However, The Sandman wants more from Dream than a sweeping quest to rebuild power. There are larger questions at work in the narrative this season, and while we hear it in the dialogue a few too many times for it to be subtle, everyone’s noticed how much Dream has changed.

Bringing back The Sandman for season 2 wasn’t just difficult because of the production issues; there were also story questions that didn’t make the way forward abundantly clear. We’ve already watched Morpheus reconstruct the Dreaming and reclaim his birthright, so all that’s left is digging into the personal parts of his past and seeing if this is the same man who thought only of himself and his responsibilities. However, instead of sagging under the weight of this more character-driven story, The Sandman leans even further into Dream’s development.

Visually, The Sandman doesn’t hold back.

The great part of any comic adaptation is that the audience doesn’t really need to remember every detail of season 1 perfectly, as Dream’s life has been so long and full of wonder that we would happily accompany him anywhere. Visually, The Sandman doesn’t hold back, crafting tableaus with enough majesty to suck us into the high-stakes of the narrative. However, the biggest fault of The Sandman does hold true in season 2. The stakes never feel very high, even if we’re happy to be along for the ride of the story.

Though we haven’t seen the counterpart to “Dream of a Thousand Cats/Calliope,” there are enough flashbacks and spell-binding adventures to satisfy the most discerning viewer. One of my favorite parts of The Sandman season 2 is how much more lore is chronicled and how much time Dream spends with his family, in whatever form this takes. While it would have been fun to see more of Death (Kirby), one of the most level-headed of Dreams’ family, learning more about his other siblings was interesting and kept The Sandman season 2 fresh.

The Sandman Hurtles Towards Its Final Episodes, Already Nostalgic For What It’s Lost

The Sandman Wastes No Time Setting Up Its Ending’s Morality Tale

The fact of the show’s cancellation doesn’t exactly hang over the series’ head, but it’s ever-present and feeds into the already nostalgic tone the narrative is leaning into. It might end up being for the best that the writers and creators were aware of the time left to push Dream even further, making him a character worth rooting for. The pace of The Sandman season 2 isn’t rushed or unreasonable, but every interaction Dream has is building to the inevitable conclusion that Vol. 2 will come to.

Everyone he meets, whether they’re an angel, Endless, or otherwise, is circling the fact that humanity might not need them anymore. We’ve become capable of creating chaos, destruction, and miracles all by ourselves. Vol. 1 leaves us with an exciting cliffhanger and a Dream who has changed in almost every conceivable way. The Sandman has honed its skills and lowered its walls to let us in even further this time around, and it might be because of the ticking clock that this is possible.

All episodes of The Sandman season 2, Vol. 1 are now available to stream on Netflix.