The Sandman Season 2 , Vol. 1 Review

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I used to read The Sandman back in high school, and even now it stands as one of the most influential adult comics ever released. Yes, I’m aging myself—but I also have a long history with the series (I do own a full set of the comics in hardcover). With the recent news about Neil Gaiman, it’s hard at times to come to terms with what place this narrative holds in culture, and this latest season seems to grapple with that same question—for better or worse.

Season 2, Vol. 1 of Netflix’s The Sandman feels like a delicate balancing act: an attempt to adapt Neil Gaiman’s sprawling, genre-defying comic for the screen while contending with the realities of what that means. It’s a strange journey into a series trying to capture its often dreamlike world, and it’s a season filled with visually lush locations and emotionally resonant situations, yet one that is often incredibly uneven in execution. Still, it’s a testament to the creative team that The Sandman remains as compelling as ever, even as it navigates the choppy waters of adaptation and the limitations of a truncated run.

While the first season worked to introduce the cast of characters and the ageless Dream of the Endless—played with ethereal gravitas by Tom Sturridge—Season 2, Vol. 1 of The Sandman is far more interested in exploring the characters in the universe, their motivations, and how they’ve changed over countless years. From trying to fix old mistakes, to finding a new entity to take the key to hell, and even searching for the Endlesses’ long-lost brother, Destruction, The Sandman Season 2 is trying hard to cram a pile of issues’ worth of story into a single season—and it seems to be struggling a bit to make it all work.

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While I have issues with the show as a whole, I must say that Sturridge’s performance in The Sandman is once again the show’s gravitational centre, and he manages to make it work overall. He embodies Morpheus with a mix of otherworldly detachment and aching vulnerability, making the Lord of Dreams both unknowable and deeply sympathetic. There’s a moment when Dream, confronted by the consequences of his own pride, lets his mask slip just enough for viewers to glimpse the regret and longing beneath. It’s a performance that grounds the show’s flights of fantasy in something tangible and relatable.

“I must say that Sturridge’s performance in The Sandman is once again the show’s gravitational centre…”

The season tries to tackle a lot in its short 12-episode runtime—especially considering how extensive the comics were when they first released—and that’s not even touching on the various side stories and other narratives told in that universe. But the writers behind The Sandman have done as good a job as can be expected, especially given all that has happened to tarnish the brand. I honestly don’t think two short seasons are enough to cover everything the stories encapsulated, but this is what we have, and the writers manage to go from epic questions of existence to family infighting—and bring it all together in a way that somewhat works.

I feel that once we lean into who the characters are, why the Endless are the way they are, and how they’ve changed over the years, there’s more substance to explore. It also brings some humanity to what can, at times, feel like a show a bit too high on its own supply. Once we get to Dream’s quest to find his estranged brother, Destruction, and his fraught relationships with his siblings—Death, Desire, Despair and Delirium—take centre stage, things can get really interesting.

The Endless are more than just personifications of abstract concepts; they’re a dysfunctional family, each with their own grievances and secrets. Esmé Creed-Miles brings a chaotic charm to Delirium, while Mason Alexander Park and Kirby Howell-Baptiste continue to shine as Desire and Death, respectively.

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This season’s biggest strength—and at times, its biggest weakness—is the writers’ willingness to streamline the source material without losing its essence. The show jumps around within the comics’ canon, pulling major events from some of the larger arcs while weaving in smaller tales that, in other shows, would likely have been cut. This approach could have resulted in a disjointed narrative, but the writers manage to craft a story that is both coherent and emotionally satisfying.

For viewers unfamiliar with the comics, the narrative is easier to follow than in the first season, though longtime fans may miss some of the side quests and narrative oddities that made the original run so distinctive. There are also some minor updates to help the story reflect the present day, since certain concepts introduced in the comics of the ’90s have aged poorly, at least if you want to sympathize with the characters on screen.

Even with the truncated nature of the season, visually, The Sandman remains one of the most striking series on television. The production design is a kaleidoscope of gothic splendour and surreal imagery—from the shadowy corridors of Hell to the dreamlike landscapes of the Endless’ realms. Each episode is packed with details that reward attentive viewing, and the special effects are consistently impressive, bringing Gaiman’s world to life with a painterly touch. Granted, not all the CGI works, and some of the visuals look a bit strange at times, but that’s a small price to pay when the overall look is so breathtaking.

“The Sandman remains one of the most striking series on television.”

There’s a lot I like about the season so far, but even with that, there are plenty of flaws—and that goes beyond the real-world situation involving Neil Gaiman and the allegations surrounding him as this season went into production. The decision to split the season into two volumes creates a natural midpoint lull, and the pacing can feel sluggish as the show shifts gears from one arc to the next. The tone is more meditative and introspective than Season 1, which may test the patience of viewers hoping for a more propulsive narrative.

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Also, as much as I loved the stories growing up, there’s no getting around the fact that The Sandman is an incredibly pretentious story—and show—and it sometimes feels too good for its audience, too focused on presenting a beautiful world of dreams rather than spending time on the real characters and their struggles. Still, the emotional payoffs are worth the wait, and the final episode of this batch ends on a note of genuine suspense, promising monumental changes for Dream and the universe he inhabits.

As excited as I was for this new season, The Sandman Season 2, Vol. 1 may be a bit of a letdown—but it’s still a worthy continuation of one of the most ambitious comic adaptations ever attempted. It’s a season about reckoning with the past, with family, and with the consequences of one’s actions. It’s about gods and monsters, but also about the very human need for forgiveness and connection. As the credits roll on this first batch of episodes, we’re left on the edge of our seats, because Dream’s story is far from over, and the best may be yet to come.

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