‘WE ARE SO BACK’: Everything you missed and what to expect in ‘The Sandman’ season 2 trailer

Netflix just dropped the official trailer for The Sandman season 2, the final season. Fans are already dissecting every cosmic, surreal, and emotional moment.

Season 2 promises to bring Neil Gaiman’s epic to a close in truly operatic fashion. Based on the two-minute trailer, the streamer is pulling out all the stops. From family reunions in otherworldly realms to mythological invasions and personal reckonings, it’s clear: The Sandman is so back.

Season 2 will be split into two volumes. The first six episodes drop on July 3, with the final five coming July 24. A special bonus episode titled Death: The High Cost of Living will close out the series on July 31.

Beloved story arcs: Present and accounted for

This final season adapts some of the most beloved arcs from the comics. Those include Season of Mists, Brief Lives, The Kindly Ones, and The Wake. There are also one-shot stories like Thermidor, The Song of Orpheus, and the award-winning A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

The trailer opens with Dream (Tom Sturridge) once again mending the remnants of his kingdom. Destiny (Adrian Lester) summons the Endless for a tense family meeting, kicking off the storyline from Season of Mists.

We get glimpses of Despair (Donna Preston) and Dream’s tragic love story with Nada (Umulisa Gahiga), which is finally getting the screen time comic fans have long awaited. Notably, Dream is also shown in a powerful confrontation with Lucifer Morningstar, culminating in his acquisition of the fabled Key to Hell.

Role call: Norse Gods in the house

Episode 2 sees Dream travel into Hell to right past wrongs, encountering beings from myth and legend along the way. Among them are Norse gods Odin (Clive Russell) and Loki (Freddie Fox), bringing a level of divine conflict that hasn’t yet been seen in the series.

The trailer also teases the arrival of Nuala (Ann Skelly) and Cluracan (Douglas Booth), with the Faerie Court taking center stage in episode 3, alongside a staging of A Midsummer Night’s Dream that blends Shakespearean flair with Gaiman’s haunting tone.

Tonal shifts galore

Episode 4 marks a tonal shift as we enter the Brief Lives arc, where Dream is joined by his sister Delirium (Esmé Creed-Miles) on a search for their lost brother Destruction (Barry Sloane). Viewers can expect a poignant, sometimes psychedelic journey that explores the cost of immortality and the burdens carried by the Endless.

One of the emotional high points teased in the trailer is the adaptation of The Song of Orpheus. In episode 5, we meet Dream’s son Orpheus (Ruairi O’Connor) in a retelling of the classic Greek tragedy. Also featured are Desire (Mason Alexander Park) and Death (Kirby Howell-Baptiste), anchoring the story in the familial themes that run throughout the series.

The “Thermidor” arrives

Another major highlight is the inclusion of the Thermidor story, placing Lady Johanna Constantine (Jenna Coleman) on a revolutionary-era mission to Paris. These vignettes build into the show’s explosive endgame in Volume 2, which adapts The Kindly Ones and The Wake, promising battles, closure, and an ending true to the original graphic novels.

One unanswered question: Who’s this guy? (Fans had their theories.)

Finally, the bonus episode Death: The High Cost of Living features Death spending a day as a mortal. She’s joined by Sexton, played by Colin Morgan, in what’s expected to be a gentle, moving farewell to the character and the show itself. For fans of myth, magic, and melancholy, The Sandman Season 2 is shaping up to be a grand, emotional finale.