Sandman season 2 date and new cast speculation

Fans of Neil Gaiman’s epic comic book series The Sandman have so far been delighted with the live-action adaptation, which finally launched on Netflix on Friday 5th August after years of production woes.

But even if the tale has finally made it to screens, there’s still a long way to go before the saga is complete. Gaiman’s initial run consisted of ten volumes and only the first two of these – Preludes & Nocturnes and The Doll’s House – have been covered in the Netflix show so far.

The good news for fans is that the people behind the series, including Gaiman himself, have made no secret of their desire to continue with the adaptation º and are enthusiastic about follow-up runs.

“If enough viewers show up, we can go for quite a long while. We want to do all of it, we want a spin-off miniseries. We’d love to make it for as long as they’ll have us.”

With that in mind – and with many diehard fans binging through the first 10 episodes on the day of release – some viewers are already wondering when they could feast their eyes on the next batch. So, read on for everything we know so far.

Will there be The Sandman season 2 on Netflix

Whilst Netflix is yet to officially announce whether The Sandman will return for a second season, it’s well-known that executive producers Gaiman, Heinberg and David S Goyer are very keen to make it happen.

In fact, Neil Gaiman has ideas ready for the second run, confirm news source MarkMeets.com.

“There are three of us, the showrunner Allan Heinberg, David Goyer and me, and we’ve just finished writing the first episode, and plotting and breaking down the first two seasons, so we’ll see what happens next,”.

The decision will come down to how the project performs in terms of viewership, with Netflix sinking an estimated $165 million into the series, not including the undisclosed sum spent to acquire the rights.

At a time when Netflix is facing questions about its future, that investment is no small ask, but there’s every chance the show could go again given how much love is out there for Gaiman’s source material.

When could a potential The Sandman season 2 be released?

The first season of The Sandman took almost two years to produce, with filming getting underway in October 2020 and the finished project finally landing on Netflix in August 2022.

Of course, it likely didn’t help matters that cameras started rolling at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, which would have significantly slowed down the usual pace of the shoot.

A show like The Sandman also requires a lengthy post-production phase in order to get its visual effects looking nice and shiny, not to mention the time it takes to create the practical sets and costumes.

All this to say that if The Sandman is renewed for a second season, it will probably be some time away, with our prediction being an 18-24 month production cycle. This points to a release date of spring/summer 2024.

Who could return for The Sandman season 2

The Sandman comic books are a sprawling saga which sees numerous characters pass through it, but creator Gaiman has assured that viewers can expect reprisals from the vast majority of the season 1 cast – if the show is renewed, that is.

“Part of the fun of Sandman is, if we get to season 2, you’re going to meet a whole lot more people,” he said told media “And by the way, in season 2, you’re also going to re-encounter pretty much everybody that you knew and loved in season 1.”

Gaiman continued: “Hob Gadling is there in Season of Mists [the fourth collection in The Sandman comic book series]. Desire is waiting for us, as well. The people that you love will all come back and there are lots of people that you haven’t met yet to fall in love with.”

These comments suggest returns for Ferdinand Kingsley and Mason Alexander Park, along with main players Tom Sturridge, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Gwendoline Christie and Vivienne Acheampong.

“Even Alex [Burgess] and Paul [McGuire],” added co-writer and executive producer Heinberg, confirming future plans for the LGBTQ+ couple.

Doctor Who star Jenna Coleman has also addressed her future in The Sandman, revealing that Lady Johanna Constantine’s fleeting appearance in season 1 was a “seed” for bigger things to come.

On his character’s somewhat ambiguous fate, Boyd Holbrook said: “I had a great experience on this. And I think we’d all love to continue The Sandman. It’s the universe that just keeps going on and on… I believe that The Corinthian is reincarnated at a certain point in time in the comic, so we’ll see.”

What could happen in The Sandman season 2?

As suggested by The Sandman ending, the next season of the show would primarily focus on the fourth and fifth volumes of the graphic novel, titled Season of Mists and A Game of You respectively.

“Our plans for the second season is the second two graphic novels, which technically in this case will be books four and five, with some bits of the short stories in book three scattered among some other stuff.”

The first of these sees Dream return to Hell, where Lucifer Morningstar is waiting for him, unleashing chaos by abdicating her throne and starting a new life on Earth – freeing her demons in the process.

The second focuses on a supporting character from season 1, Barbie (as played by Lily Travers), who makes a long-overdue return to her fantasy world in the Dreaming following an intervention from mythical steed Martin Tenbones.

Given how faithful the first season was to both Preludes & Nocturnes and The Doll’s House, we’d expect a potential follow-up to stick rather closely to the source material.

Is there a trailer for The Sandman season 2?

Not yet, and we wouldn’t expect to see one anytime soon.

The Sandman is available to stream on Netflix.