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The second season of The Sandman reportedly went under production this June. The Netflix fantasy series officially confirmed the start of filming with behind-the-scene photographs, which showed the lead star Tom Sturridge in his Lord Morpheus costume alongside another actor in a white costume.
The first season of The Sandman was released in August 2022, and in November of the same year, Netflix announced a second season. While fans have waited since then to catch the news about the upcoming installment, Netflix has not given any official date for release yet.
The information was confirmed by Barry Waldo, who is the production designer Jon Gary Steele’s husband, in a tweet replying to a fan's query about the progress of season 2.
While the lead characters are expected to feature in season 2, creator Neil Gaiman has confirmed the entry of two new characters according to the storyline. Moreover, Netflix’s US and Canada head Peter Friedlander has hinted that season 2 may not release all at once but may instead come out in parts.
Filming begins for The Sandman season 2
Seven months after its announcement, The Sandman season 2 finally began filming on Monday, June 26, 2023. The background of the aforementioned photographs doing the rounds on various social media platforms suggested the location of the shoot was Dorset.
The slightly blurry image shows the location of Durdle Door in Dorset, which faced a two-day temporary shutdown on the days of the shoot.
The images were circulated from the Instagram account of a non-crew member who happened to stumble upon the location. The location is a common favorite for productions such as Doctor Who and Far From the Madding Crowd.
As such, the place looks just right for specific scenes from the comic series. Waldo named the Shepperton Studios when announcing the start of the shoot on June 26.
What are the cast and plot expectations from The Sandman season 2?
The lead characters from the first season will return for season two. This includes Tom Sturridge as Dream, Gwendoline Christie as Lucifer, Vivienne Acheampong as Lucienne, and Kirby Howell-Baptiste as Death.
Four new characters are slated to appear in the upcoming season – Destiny, Destruction, Delirium, and Wanda. Of these, while Delirium is the youngest member of the 7 Endless, Wanda Mann is the comic’s transgender character.
The storyline of season 1 covered the first two arcs in the comics – Preludes & Nocturnes and The Doll’s House along with two issues of Dream Country, the third story.
The 11 episodes of season 1 centered around one of the Endless and the Dream King who escaped from prison to establish order in his empire, The Dreaming.
This time, there may be a restructuring in the order of stories told. The two storylines rumored to be taken for The Sandman season 2 are Vol. 4, The Season of Mists, and Vol. 7, Brief Lives.
While Brief Lives introduces the character of Destruction, Wanda will be presented now instead of in A Game of You. Since Vol. 5, A Game of You seems to have been pushed aside for now, Wanda may replace the role of Ruby DeLonge from the comics.
While fans are expecting The Song of Orpheus to be adapted as well, comic favorites Delirium and Destiny will feature in this season. Moreover, the series may not air all its episodes in one go but present them in chunks like Netflix did for The Witcher season 3.
Gaiman stated that his other creation – Dead Boy Detectives – exists in the same universe as The Sandman and will soon air on Netflix.
Did the WGA strike affect The Sandman season 2 production?
The Writers Guild of America strike brought numerous productions to a screeching halt and put releases on hold. It is unclear whether it has affected the filming of The Sandman season 2 since the production started this June.
However, creator Neil Gaiman has pledged support to the cause of the writers’ strike who are demanding job security, better funding, and disapproval of artificial intelligence use.
As such, the scripts for the series were completed and frozen for production in May 2023 before the strike started, which ensured that work could be started without any hassle.
However, the team of The Sandman shows solidarity with the striking writers and hopes for a resolution so that they can resume work on the later episodes of the series.
There is no official date for the release of The Sandman season 2. The production commenced on June 2023 and will conclude the first chunk tentatively in October 2023. With the second part of filming to happen between January 2024 and April 2024, the show will likely release sometime next year.
