The Sandman's showrunner is opening up on why the show is ending after just two seasons and not for the reasons you'd expect!
Comic book adaptations on TV can be hit or miss for some projects. For every big success like the Arrowverse, there are multiple failures. The Sandman was an instant success when it debuted on Netflix in 2023, thanks in part to its rich source material.
The first season adapted the first story arcs of Neil Gaiman's acclaimed, award-winning DC/Vertigo Comics title that ran from 1989 to 1996. A century after being trapped in a prison, Morpheus, aka Dream of the Endless (Tom Sturridge), escapes and soon goes on a quest to reclaim his place and power as lord of dreams.
The show was a payoff to years of development hell that included a couple of failed movie adaptations. It was a monster success for Netflix to gain a second season. That, however, soon came into controversy when creator Neil Gaiman was accused of sexual assault by various women. That led to Netflix announcing that season 2 would be the last for the show.
It's easy to think that the cancellation is due to Gaiman's issues casting a cloud on his creation. It can also be too easy to believe this is yet another case of Netflix cutting a huge fantasy epic short due to problems with its budget or viewing numbers.
However, the series' showrunner just gave an interview where his reasoning for ending the series isn't what fans might have expected.
Why is The Sandman ending so soon?
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, showrunner Allan Heinberg shared he had planned at least three 11-episode seasons of the show to expand on the comics. However, that changed when Sturridge's fantastic performance as Dream redirected the course of the show.
"We learned making season one that we were only going to focus on the stories where Dream was the protagonist. In the comic book, it has more of an anthology structure. There are long story arcs where he may appear in one or two scenes, but there are other people's stories. We realized that the audience, for a serialized drama, needs a character that they can follow and root for throughout the entire run of the show…And with this show, we watched the audience reaction to the first episode and then the second episode, and their interest was always held when Dream was either onscreen or the subject of the scene. But anytime we drifted into other people's storylines, they got confused and lost interest because it's called The Sandman and they thought the show was about the Sandman, which we all understand."
This meant that rather than continue to adapt storylines where Dream barely appears, the second season would focus almost completely on him. Thus, season 2 adapts first the "Season of Mists" storyline where Lucifer (Gwendoline Christie) suddenly abdicates Hell and Dream faces a litany of influential figures wanting him to hand over the keys.
That's followed by adapting the "Brief Lives" tale that shows off more of the Endless while also working in one-shot stories such as "A Midsummer Night's Dream." The ending of episode 6 of season 2 was going to be the second season finale, but it is now merely a break before the next batch of episodes drops on July 24.
So, rather than the planned third season adapting "The Kindly Ones" and "The Wake," the final storylines of the comic book series, it appears to be saved for the final half of season 2. That's followed by a final episode focusing on Death (Kirby Howell-Baptiste). While hinting there may be changes from the original story, Heinberg is confident in how fans will enjoy these switches.
"In the back half, Dream is going to do everything he possibly can to keep his life and his kingdom, and the people who work with him, whole and safe and alive. He's not just going to give up. He's not just going to resign himself to his fate. He's going to fight for the next five episodes, because that's who he is. So it's not over, and there are lots of surprises along the way."
Thus, rather than it being Netflix or Gaiman's issues ending The Sandman earlier, it seems more of a creative decision. As Heinberg says, non-comic audiences were more attuned to Dream being the focus of the series rather than the anthology take of the comic book. It does mean The Sandman should end on a strong note for a conclusion to honor the amazing comic book epic.
The Sandman season 2 streaming on Netflix.
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