'The Sandman' to return for second Netflix season

Teaser video confirms show will be back despite cancellation rumours

Tom Sturridge as Dream in 'The Sandman'. All photos: Netflix

Jenna Coleman as Johanna and Tom Sturridge as Dream in the series.

From left, Vivienne Acheampong as Lucienne, Sanjeev Bhaskar as Cain, Tom Sturridge as Dream and Asim Chaudhry as Abel.

Niamh Walsh as Ethel Cripps, left, and Laurie Kynaston as Alex Burgess.

From left, Nina Wadia as Fate Mother, Souad Faress as Fate Crone and Dinita Gohil as Fate Maiden.

Tom Sturridge as Dream and Boyd Holbrook as The Corinthian.

From left, Sandra James-Young as Unity Kincaid, Vivienne Acheampong as Lucienne and Vanesu Samunyai as Rose Walker.

Daisy Badger as Chantal.

Tom Sturridge as Dream, one of the seven Endless, who are inconceivably powerful, ancient beings.

Bill Paterson as John Hathaway and Charles Dance as Roderick Burgess.

Bill Paterson as John Hathaway and Benjamin Ainsworth as Alex Burgess.

The Sandman is returning to Netflix for a second season.

It was confirmed with a short teaser video in which Neil Gaiman, the creator of The Sandman comics, announced the news.

“The rumours are true,” he tweeted. “Netflix is thrilled that so many of you have been watching Sandman, and the thing we were all hoping would happen … has indeed happened …”

In the video, we’re shown Morpheus’s famous mask emerging from the sand, with the phrase “The Sandman … the dream continues.”

Other details regarding the second season are yet to be revealed, including when it will be released or how many episodes it will have.

The renewal confirmation follows an accidental leak by DC Comics’ official Twitter page in a since-deleted tweet which read: “The dream continues. [The Sandman] will return with new episodes based on multiple volumes of the Neil Gaiman graphic novel to explore even more stories of the Endless.”

The Sandman made its debut on Netflix in August and was watched for 69.5 million hours in its first week. The 10-episode series follows the story of Morpheus (Tom Sturridge), also known as Dream. He’s one of the seven Endless, a group of inconceivably powerful ancient beings, alongside such other entities as Death, Despair and Destruction.

He is summoned and incarcerated inside a glass prison for 100 years as his tools — a pouch of sand, a helmet and a ruby — are stolen. When Dream finally escapes imprisonment, he finds his own netherworld has all but been destroyed, while chaos reigns on Earth. To bring balance to this catastrophe, he sets out to find his precious tools.

The National gave the show a positive review, with four out of five stars. James Mottram wrote: “In a story about time, ageing and mortality, The Sandman is a show that non-fans will need to adjust to. It has an almost anthology-style feel, as leaps are made from one story element to another.

“At a time when Game of Thrones and The Lord of the Rings are preparing two expensive prequel shows for HBO and Amazon Prime Video respectively, Netflix’s The Sandman has stolen a march on both.”