Netflix has stayed as quiet as it can about the second season of Sandman in the wake of the accusations of sexual harassment against series creator Neil Gaiman, but as we draw closer to next month’s arrival of what is now its final season, our first real look at its return really wants to make clear that it is bringing all of this to an end.
Although Gaiman remains credited as an executive producer for the series, the new trailer makes no allusions to his role in the series or even an acknowledgement of the comics that provided its source material, instead choosing to focus on the dire ramifications Tom Sturridge’s Dream is facing after the events of season one.
Eagle eyed fans of the Sandman comics will spot plenty nods towards the sheer quantity of storylines the final season is whipping through as it prepares Dream to fight to save both his own kingdom and the waking world from total chaos. The eleven episode season will cover adaptations of “Tales in the Sand,” “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” “The Song of Orpheus,” “Thermidor,” and “The Tempest,” among others, and will conclude with a bonus twelfth episode focusing on Kirby Howell-Baptiste’s Death.
Series showrunner Allan Heinberg has always insisted that Sandman‘s original plan was to only run for two seasons. When Netflix announced plans for more from the series in the wake of season one’s critical acclaim, the streamer was deliberately vague about just what the shape of those plans were, describing the renewal as a “continuation of the Sandman world” at the time, rather than a traditional second season announcement. It was only in January this year, at the height of reaction to the allegations surrounding Gaiman, that Netflix confirmed its cancellation.
“I can’t say that it affected our process, which is scheduled years in advance,” Heinberg recently said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly of the allegations against Gaiman. “It’s been in the periphery of my experience and the background of my experience, but it hasn’t been part of the world of the making of the show, if that makes sense. Every production is its own little island.”
Sandman‘s second and final season will begin on July 3 with the release of the first block of six episodes, with the final five arriving on July 24. The bonus episode, “The Sandman Presents: Death: The High Cost of Living”, will stream on July 31.
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