Series guide
- Fantasy
- Drama
- Creators
- Allan Heinberg
- Stars
- Tom Sturridge · Boyd Holbrook · Vivienne Acheampong
Images: DC
Where to watch The Sandman
The Sandman streams on Netflix in the US, included with a subscription. Both seasons are there – 23 episodes running 37 to 70 minutes each – and the story is complete. It is a Netflix original, so no other US service carries it.
Streaming options in the United States, updated Sep 15, 2026. More from netflix.com. Service logos are trademarks of their owners.
- Episodes aired
- 23 of 23
Seasons 2
The Sandman episodes 23
Season 1 · 11 episodes · 11 aired · Aug 5, 2022 to Aug 19, 2022
S1.E1 ·
Sleep of the Just
In 1916, an occultist's ritual to bind Death goes wrong and snares Morpheus instead. Stripped of his helm, sand and ruby, the lord of the Dreaming spends a century in a cellar cage.
Directed by Mike Barker · Written by Neil Gaiman & David S. Goyer & Allan Heinberg
S1.E2 ·
Imperfect Hosts
Morpheus returns home to a kingdom in ruins he cannot rebuild without his stolen tools. Lucienne takes him to Cain and Abel, and he gathers enough power to summon the three Fates for answers.
Directed by Jamie Childs · Written by Allan Heinberg
S1.E3 ·
Dream a Little Dream of Me
Morpheus tracks his pouch of sand to exorcist Johanna Constantine, who is busy sending a demon back to Hell. In Buffalo, Ethel Cripps visits her committed son John, who is obsessed with the ruby.
Directed by Jamie Childs · Written by Jim Campolongo
S1.E4 ·
A Hope in Hell
Morpheus descends into Hell to reclaim his helm from the demon Choronzon, who answers with a challenge rather than the helm. Above, John Dee closes in on the ruby with a stranger's help.
Directed by Jamie Childs · Written by Austin Guzman
S1.E5 ·
24/7
Holed up in a roadside diner with the ruby, John Dee strips the staff and customers of their ability to lie, curious whether a world without deception would be a better one.
Directed by Jamie Childs · Written by Ameni Rozsa
S1.E6 ·
The Sound of Her Wings
With his tools recovered and nothing left to chase, Morpheus is aimless until his sister Death invites him along on her rounds. A memory of a medieval tavern returns an old acquaintance to him.
Directed by Mairzee Almas · Written by Lauren Bello
S1.E7 ·
The Doll's House
Rose Walker, separated from her younger brother Jed for years, takes a wealthy stranger's offer to fund the search for him. Morpheus has his own reasons for wanting to find her.
Directed by Andrés Baiz · Written by Heather Bellson
S1.E8 ·
Playing House
Morpheus agrees to walk the dreams of Rose's fellow boarders in Cape Kennedy to reach Jed. Meanwhile the fliers Rose posts around town catch the eye of someone already hunting for her.
Directed by Andrés Baiz · Written by Alexander Newman-Wise
S1.E9 ·
Collectors
A phone call sends Rose to a hotel hosting a convention of serial killers, with a fellow guest from the bed and breakfast for company. In the Dreaming, Lyta's impossible pregnancy races ahead.
Directed by Coralie Fargeat · Written by Vanessa James Benton
S1.E10 ·
Lost Hearts
Morpheus walks into the convention hall to confront the Corinthian in front of his admirers. Whatever follows, the damage Rose is doing to the Dreaming still has to be answered for.
Directed by Louise Hooper · Written by Jay Franklin
S1.E11 ·
Dream of a Thousand Cats / Calliope
Two standalone stories: a Siamese cat gathers others by night to recount what she asked of Morpheus, and a blocked novelist inherits an elderly writer's captive, the Muse Calliope.
Written by Catherine Smyth-McMullen
Netflix released episodes 1-10 together on August 5, 2022. Episode 11 is a bonus episode added on August 19 carrying two standalone stories, which is why it is a double title.
Season 2 · 12 episodes · 12 aired · Jul 3, 2025 to Jul 31, 2025
S2.E1 ·
Season of Mists
Barely started on rebuilding the Dreaming, Morpheus is called to a gathering of the Endless, where Desire raises Nada, the mortal queen he condemned to Hell millennia ago after she left him.
Directed by Jamie Childs · Written by Allan Heinberg
S2.E2 ·
The Ruler of Hell
Morpheus arrives in Hell expecting a reckoning and finds something stranger waiting. Back home, delegations of gods, demons and fae descend on the Dreaming, each with a claim to press.
Directed by Jamie Childs · Written by Ameni Rozsa
S2.E3 ·
More Devils Than Vast Hell Can Hold
With his guests assembled and bribes piling up, Morpheus must decide who receives the Key to Hell. A memory of 1593 recalls the night he had Shakespeare perform for the court of Faerie.
Directed by Jamie Childs · Written by Alexander Wise
S2.E4 ·
Brief Lives
Delirium arrives unannounced and asks Morpheus to help her find Destruction, the brother who walked away from the family centuries ago. Their search starts with the people who knew him last.
Directed by Jamie Childs · Written by Austin Guzman
S2.E5 ·
The Song of Orpheus
Destiny tells Morpheus that only one oracle can point the way to Destruction. A flashback to Bronze Age Greece opens on the wedding of Orpheus, the son Morpheus had with Calliope.
Directed by Jamie Childs · Written by Shadi Petosky
S2.E6 ·
Family Blood
In 1794, Morpheus sends Lady Johanna Constantine into revolutionary France to recover something he wants carried to a temple in Greece. In the present, he and Delirium reach that temple at last.
Directed by Jamie Childs · Written by Jim Campolongo
S2.E7 ·
Time and Night
Morpheus goes looking for help with a problem no one will touch, calling on Destiny, his parents Time and Night, and an old debt owed him by Loki. In London, Rose and Lyta visit Unity's house.
Directed by Jamie Childs · Written by Vanessa Benton
S2.E8 ·
Fuel for the Fire
With Daniel missing and Lyta blaming him, Morpheus is urged to stay inside the Dreaming where he cannot be touched, and to send a mortal agent in his place. He asks Johanna Constantine.
Directed by Jamie Childs · Written by Jay Franklin
S2.E9 ·
The Kindly Ones
Johanna and a newly made Corinthian set out after Loki, following a trail that draws other gods along with them. Pressed by Hettie, Lyta weighs calling on the Kindly Ones herself.
Directed by Jamie Childs · Written by Greg Goetz
S2.E10 ·
Long Live the King
Cain, Matthew and Lucienne barricade themselves in the throne room as the Dreaming comes under attack. Morpheus returns to a realm in crisis and a choice about how far he is willing to go.
Directed by Jamie Childs · Written by Marina Marlens
S2.E11 ·
A Tale of Graceful Ends
The Dreaming is being put back in order, and friends, gods and the Endless gather for a farewell. Each of them arrives carrying something they wish they had said a great deal sooner.
Directed by Jamie Childs · Written by Allan Heinberg
S2.E12 ·
Death: The High Cost of Living
A young journalist convinced the world is ending meets a cheerful stranger in a dump who claims to be Death on her one day off. He does not believe her, and follows her anyway.
Directed by Jamie Childs · Written by Neil Gaiman & Allan Heinberg
Released in three parts: Volume 1 (episodes 1-6) on July 3, 2025, Volume 2 (episodes 7-11) on July 24, and a bonus episode, Death: The High Cost of Living, on July 31.
Videos 2
Two bonus episodes, neither of them where you would look
The Sandman has 23 episodes and Netflix’s season selector will show you 21 of them without effort. Both seasons end with an extra episode released apart from the rest, and both are among the best things the show did. Season 1 dropped ten episodes on August 5, 2022 and then added an eleventh two weeks later, on August 19, carrying two standalone stories that had nothing to do with the season’s plot. Season 2 released in two volumes in July 2025 and then added Death: The High Cost of Living a week after the finale. People finish the finale, see the credits, and stop.
That release pattern is the single most useful thing to know before starting, because the show’s structure is already unusual. Season 1 is two arcs stapled together – a recovery quest for the first five episodes, then a different story with a largely different cast from episode 7 – and the hinge episode, the sixth, is a quiet two-hander that does not advance either. It is also the episode most people name as the reason they kept watching. Release order is the order to use, and the sixth episode is the one to reach before deciding whether the show is for you – not the first.
A note on the cast, since it trips up databases as well as readers: there are two Sandmans. Audible’s full-cast audio drama, with Michael Sheen, Riz Ahmed, Andy Serkis and Bill Nighy, adapts the same comics and is not this. On television Gwendoline Christie plays Lucifer, Tom Sturridge plays Dream, and Kirby Howell-Baptiste plays Death – the list above is the Netflix cast. Allan Heinberg ran the show, developing it with Neil Gaiman and David S. Goyer, and the production record has the rest. For the comics the series adapts and the volumes it left out, our Sandman reading order is the companion, and our ranking of Vertigo’s best covers the imprint it built.
The Sandman cast 20
Tom SturridgeDream / Morpheus
Boyd HolbrookThe Corinthian- Vivienne AcheampongLucienne
Patton OswaltMatthew the Raven (voice)- Kirby Howell-BaptisteDeath
Mason Alexander ParkDesire
Donna PrestonDespair- Jenna ColemanJohanna Constantine
Gwendoline ChristieLucifer Morningstar
David ThewlisJohn Dee- Charles DanceRoderick Burgess
- Vanesu SamunyaiRose Walker
- Stephen FryGilbert / Fiddler's Green
Razane JammalLyta Hall- Ferdinand KingsleyHob Gadling
Mark HamillMervyn Pumpkinhead (voice)- Esmé Creed-MilesDelirium
- Adrian LesterDestiny
- Barry SloaneDestruction
- Ann SkellyNuala
- Showrunner
- Allan Heinberg
- Developed by
- Neil Gaiman, David S. Goyer, Allan Heinberg
- Music
- David Buckley
- Studios
- DC Entertainment, Warner Bros. Television
Photos via Wikimedia Commons. Tom Sturridge: Harald Krichel, CC BY-SA 4.0; Boyd Holbrook: Greg2600, CC BY-SA 2.0; Patton Oswalt: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0; Mason Alexander Park: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0; Donna Preston: Meena, CC0; Gwendoline Christie: Sachyn, CC BY-SA 3.0; David Thewlis: David_Thewlis_at_San_Sebastian_Filmfestival_2008.jpg : Andreas Tai derivative work: RanZag ( talk ), CC BY-SA 3.0; Razane Jammal: Tarek Moukaddem, CC BY-SA 4.0; Mark Hamill: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where can I watch The Sandman?
Both seasons stream on Netflix in the US with a subscription. It is a Netflix original, so no other US service carries it.
How many episodes of The Sandman are there?
23: eleven in season 1 and twelve in season 2. Two of those are bonus episodes – one in each season – that were released separately from the main batch.
Is The Sandman finished?
Yes. Season 2 was announced as the last and closed the story on July 31, 2025.
Do I need to read the comics first?
No. The series adapts from the beginning and explains its own rules. If you want the source afterwards, our Sandman reading order covers what the show skipped.
What is the extra episode at the end of each season?
Season 1’s is a two-story bonus episode added two weeks after the rest. Season 2’s is Death: The High Cost of Living, a standalone adaptation released a week after the finale.
