The Sandman TV Series: The Escape, Disappearance, and Return of Dream

Written by: Rebecca Davenport

What is The Sandman TV Series?

The Sandman is a television series based on the story of Dream / Morpheus, based on the 1996 comic book written by Neil Gaiman. The genre of this series is fantasy drama and supernatural horror, and is rated for mature audiences (18+ in most countries, including the United States). The series is originally in English and consists of 2 seasons with 23 episodes in total (11 episodes for the first season and 12 episodes for the second season). You can stream it on Netflix, but again, beware of the age rating!

Characters

Main Characters of The Sandman TV Series

The main characters of this series are: Lord Dream or Morpheus (Tom Sturridge), the personification of dreams and nightmares who is also the ruler of the Dreaming; The Corinthian (Boyd Holbrook), a nightmare which operates as a serial killer in the first season but only serves as memories in the second season; Lucienne (Vivienne Acheampong), the librarian of the Dreaming; and lastly Matthew the Raven (voiced by Patton Oswalt), Dream’s emissary who used to be a human but passed away. He was reincarnated to his current state–a raven–by Lucienne.

Recurring Characters of The Sandman TV Series

Aside from the main characters, we have some recurring characters in the series as well: Johanna Constantine the occult detective, Cain and Abel the residents of the Dreaming, Fate Mother, Fate Maiden, and Fate Crone or the Kindly Ones, John Dee, Mad Hettie, Lucifer Morningstar the ruler of Hell, Mazikeen, Queen Nada, Desire, Death, Hob Gadling, Despair, Rose Walker, Hippolyta “Lyta” Hall, Unity Kinkaid, Gilbert or Fiddler’s Green, Jed Walker, Mervyn Pumpkinhead, Delirium, Destiny, Nuala, Cluracan, Loki, Puck or Robin Goodfellow, Queen Titania, Destruction, and Barnabas. There are also some guest characters that only make an appearance in several episodes.

Story

Season 1

The story started with Roderick Burgess who wanted to capture Death. However, instead of capturing Death, he captured Dream instead. Burgess didn’t let Morpheus go, unfortunately. Instead, he imprisoned him and stole his totems of power: a magic helm, a pouch of dream-sand, and a powerful ruby that makes dreams come true. Due to Dream being imprisoned for a century, a kind of sleeping sickness was spread worldwide. He finally escaped prison after 106 years.

Dream had to fix everything: the Dreaming that was left in ruins and also his totems that, after being stolen by Burgess, were apparently stolen by other people. Dream managed to obtain his totems from different people and places: the sand from Johanna Constantine, the helm from Hell after challenging Lucifer, and the ruby from John Dee.

After Dream being aimless for a little while, things got crazy again. Rose Walker, who happened to be a Vortex–a rare entity who was naturally able to attract and manipulate dreams–was used by Desire and Despair, twin sisters, to conspire against Dream. Dream knew about Rose’s power, and he planned to use her as well. At the same time, Rose started her search on her lost brother, Jed, and she was apparently hunted by The Corinthian, a rogue nightmare.

Rose asked for Dream’s help to find her brother through people’s dreams. So, they dream-travelled until they found Jed’s dream. At the same time, there was also Lyta Hall, Rose’s friend, who stayed in the Dreaming while Rose was on her mission. While Lyta was in the Dreaming, she stumbled upon her deceased husband, Hector Hall, who convinced her to stay in the Dreaming so that they could start their family properly. When Lyta woke up after that, however, she was suddenly pregnant. The baby was named Daniel.

Season 2

Season 2 Part 1 of The Sandman TV Series

Season 2 story started with Dream’s attempt to free Queen Nada from Hell. Oddly enough, Hell was found abandoned by Lucifer, and he decided to give Dream the Key to Hell. This caused the delegations of gods, demons, fairies, and angels to bribe Dream to obtain the key, but the demons got it because Azazel, one of the demons, offered Dream the soul of Nada.

Meanwhile, Delirium was looking for her brother, Destruction. She asked for Dream’s help in the quest, and they travelled through the lives of mortals once tied to Destruction. Dream finally asked for help from his son, Orpheus, who revealed to them the location of Destruction. Afterwards, Dream fulfilled Orpheus’ wish (which was death). However, this caused Dream to speed up the coming of his own death.

Season 2 Part 2 of The Sandman TV Series

Knowing what he did with his son, Dream was preparing himself for the consequences. Meanwhile, Loki and Puck kidnapped Daniel, which put Lyta to despair. This helped Despair manipulate her, and they summoned the Kindly Ones to destroy Dream. The Kindly Ones, however, didn’t only destroy Dream. They also destroyed the Dreaming with everyone in it. Dream was finally led by Death to his end, and suddenly, Daniel was raised as the new Lord of Dreams. The story ended with everyone attending Morpheus’ funeral.

What do you think about The Sandman TV Series? Is this the kind of tv series that you want to watch? Share with us in the comments about your thoughts to earn a Limited Edition Comic Book Pack for your collection!