The next title among returning shows on the 2025 TV schedule I’m excited for is The Sandman for the second and final season. I can’t be the only one who watched the trailer and started drawing a big blank on what happened in Season 1, right? The Sandman is the latest of shows that is coming back after a crazy long gap between seasons, and after a similar wait had me musing over the return of Severance and digging deep into The White Lotus’ past seasons, now I’ve got you covered with an easy guide to refresh both of our memories.
Now, I’m not one of those fans of The Sandman who read the comics before watching the TV show. The series, which has been regarded by fans as a great adaptation, was my first dip into Neil Gaiman’s acclaimed dream world, and I loved falling into it. If you’re also in my position of being a more casual fan of the series, and looking forward to watching the new season with your Netflix subscription, follow along for my rundown of the basics of what we should both know before clicking play on July 3.
The Sandman Follows The King Of Dreams After a Century Of Imprisonment
The Sandman takes place in a world where “dreams” are not simply an occurrence that happen during bedtime but the name of a being named Lord Morpheus/Dream (Tom Sturridge), who is the ruler of something called the Dreaming, where all dreams and nightmares are kept. Dream’s troubles start when he is conjured up by a sorcerer named Roderick Burgess in the year 1916, who hopes to imprison the Angel of Death and strike a bargain with him in order to bring his son back from the dead.
Instead, he captures Dream, strips him of his belongings, which literally includes a pouch of sand, an emerald necklace that can prolong the wearer’s life and his helm. He’s imprisoned for a century, which leaves the Dreaming without someone to rule it. Once Dream finally escapes, his librarian Lucienne (Vivienne Acheampong) lets him know that since he’s been gone, dreams and nightmares have fled to Earth, and the Dreaming is in ruins. So throughout Season 1, Dream is on a quest to bring his realm back to its former glory.
Dream And His Siblings Are Known As The Endless
Dream is part of a family called The Endless, which are representations of natural forces like Dreams. In Season 1, we get acquainted with many of them. We meet three of them: Death (played by Kirby Howell-Baptiste), Despair (Donna Preston) and Desire (Mason Alexander Park).
But in Season 1, Dream suggests there’s one more sibling we haven’t met yet, whom he refers to as “the prodigal,” who has been absent from the Endless family for some time. Apparently Season 2 will illuminate us about who this Prodigal is, along with providing more introductions to other members of the Endless we’ve yet to meet yet. Quite a few new cast members joined the series.
Who The Vortex Is, And How Season 1 Left Her Storyline
Another main element of Season 1 was something called a “dream vortex”, which appears “once every era” for unknown reasons to The Endless. When “The Vortex” appears, it can have some serious repercussions for the Dreaming, such as dreamers becoming trapped in the same dream. A young woman named Rose Walker (Kyo Ra) is revealed to be said to be a vortex in Season 1, who is on a mission to find her missing younger brother.
While on her mission, Dream makes himself known to her and helps her to control her vortex powers. However, she becomes pertinent to the plan of an escaped nightmare named Corinthian, who finds her brother before she can, and uses it to lure her. Ultimately, this leads to Rose and Dream going head-to-head, and Rose decides to sacrifice herself so that “The Vortex” ceases to exist.
That is, until her great-grandmother Unity rushes to offer herself over to get the powers instead and sacrifice herself so Rose can live out her life (Unity was originally supposed to be the vortex). Season 1 ends with Rose having a happy ending of living in New York and pursuing her love of writing. There’s also a whole side plot where Rose’s vortex powers allow for a baby to be conceived in the Dreaming, which Morpheus vowed to come for “one day,” so definitely bookmark that, too.
The Key Villain Of Season 1 Is An Escaped Nightmare Named Corinthian
When I think about my watch of The Sandman back in 2022, I think the most memorable bit was Boyd Holbrook’s Corinthian. Corinthian is a nightmare who escaped the Dreaming and proceeded to go on a killing spree on Earth for his own pleasure. Throughout Season 1, Dream is trying to stop Corinthian’s crimes, which he ultimately does by turning him to sand by the end of the season. However, the trailer for the new season teases the return of Corinthian, so somehow the nightmare will return!
Season 1 Ended With Lucifer Wanting To Raise Hell (Literally) With The Dream World
That brings me to the last piece of The Sandman Season 1 that I think we both need to remember before returning to binge more of one of the best fantasy shows to stream right now. In The Sandman, we get to know the Devil herself, Lucifer Morningstar, played by Gwendoline Christie. During the first season, Morpheus travels to Hell to obtain his lost helm, which he successfully gets back. However, the season itself ends with us as an audience finding out that Lucifer is plotting with her ally, a demon named Azazel, to start a war with Morpheus to conquer the Dreaming and then the entire waking world.
Yeah… that was a rough cliffhanger to leave things on. While I’m kind of bummed the series is ending after only two seasons, after doing the homework, I’m excited to tune into the return of The Sandman on July 3, before the second part arrives later next month on July 24.
