Netflix might have kicked off the new year with an early renewal for one hit series, but it seems the first month of 2025 is coming to an end with the cancellation of another. As first reported by Variety, Netflix has announced that the upcoming second season of The Sandman will now also serve as its final season with the show calling it quits after just two seasons – though we can’t say we’re surprised by this particular move.
News of the decision to end the show after its upcoming second season comes on the heels of a string of sexual misconduct accusations against Neil Gaiman have come to light. Studio heads have rightfully been looking to distance themselves from Gaiman in the wake of the accusations and Netflix is the latest to follow suit in severing ties with Gaiman, who created The Sandman for DC Comics and developed the show for TV.
The Sandman joins a string of projects impacted which also includes Amazon’s Good Omens which saw Gaiman stepping back from the project which is now ending with a final season that will consist of just one episode, Disney halting development of The Graveyard Book movie, a Coraline musical being shelved entirely just months ahead of its planned April debut, and Dark Horse comics officially cutting ties.
Interestingly, showrunner Allan Heinberg seemed to hint there had been conversations about ending the show after just two seasons going back to 2022. As Heinberg told Variety:
“The Sandman series has always been focused exclusively on Dream’s story, and back in 2022, when we looked at the remaining Dream material from the comics, we knew we only had enough story for one more season. We are extremely grateful to Netflix for bringing the team all back together and giving us the time and resources to make a faithful adaptation in a way that we hope will surprise and delight the comics’ loyal readers as well as fans of our show.”
The trade also hints that sources close to Warner Bros. Television had discussed ending the show after season 2 due to its high production costs. While this could be the case, we have to imagine the recent accusations against Gaiman were the final nail in the coffin of the show.
The Sandman season 2 will still release in 2025
While the decision has been made to cancel The Sandman after just two seasons, Netflix has confirmed the new season will still be released in 2025 and the show’s return is not being delayed. At this time, The Sandman remains without a release date, but it’s looking likely that the new season will not arrive until the second half of 2025.
When announcing its 2025 slate, Netflix confirmed the release dates for many hit shows releasing through June and also teased an even longer list of new and returning shows set to come out in the year ahead. It’s possible some shows on the list that were not given a release date could still hit Netflix in the first half of the year, it seems more likely that shows such as The Sandman will be head for the second part of 2025, i.e. July through December.
It’s possible that season 2 could be released in August which is when season 1 was released way back in the Summer of 2022. Though it’s also possible Netflix could sit on the show until the fall months and reserve the bigger summer months for shows it wants to bet on rather than making The Sandman’s final season a bigger release in the summer.
Although we don’t yet know when the season will be released, we do know that season 2 will adapt the “Seasons of Mists” storyline from the comics which occurs in the closing comics in The Sandman series. This arc sees Dream put in charge of Hell, which leads to many fellow immortals attempting to secure power from Dream.