Ready for The Sandman Season 2? Here's a list of what you must read before (& after)

With The Sandman season 2 counting down to its highly anticipated two-part launch—Volume 1 debuting July 3, 2025, and Volume 2 in follow-up on July 24—new and existing fans alike are bracing themselves for what is sure to be a beautifully rendered and emotionally shattering climax to Dream's saga.

But The Sandman universe isn't simply about seeing—it's about knowing, feeling, and becoming immersed in one of the most intellectually dense and story-weaving comic series in history. If you want to fully understand the stakes, the relationships, and the cosmic settlements that season 2 will tackle, there's some reading to be done—both before and after clicking play.

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What to read before watching The Sandman Season 2?

Season 2 takes a number of key story arcs from Neil Gaiman's comic book series—arcs that indicate Dream's long overdue confrontations with his past, his family, and himself. To go in fully armed, these four main storylines are absolute necessities.

Season of Mists (Volume 4)

The first arc of The Sandman season 2, Season of Mists, starts out with a long-overdue trip to Hell. Dream, tormented by the brutal choice he had made in the past to condemn his ex-lover Nada to perdition forever, comes back to make amends.

Instead of bracing himself for vengeance, however, he is given the key to Hell by Lucifer Morningstar himself, who relinquishes his throne. What ensues is a whirlwind of diplomatic turmoil, as gods, demons, and leaders of pantheons converge on the Dreaming, each vying for mastery of the newly vacated underworld.

This volume is required not only for plot, but for its brilliant consideration of forgiveness, guilt, and responsibility on a cosmic level. It also introduces or enriches characters who will influence the second half of the season, such as Desire, Destiny, and Odin.

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Brief Lives (Volume 7)

Emotionally, it is one of the most intimate and life-changing tales in all of The Sandman universe—and in season 2, it is a huge turning point. Dream promises to go with his sister, Delirium, on a search for their long-lost brother, Destruction, who left his station as one of the Endless centuries ago.

This search is introspective with layers, as Dream comes gradually face to face with the stiffness of his own personality—his refusal to change, his emotional numbness, and the individuals whom he's left hurt in his wake. It's heartbreakingly quiet, with divine detours and moral self-reflection, and it begins the inevitability of what happens next in The Kindly Ones.

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The Kindly Ones (Volume 9)

By the time The Sandman season 2 enters The Kindly Ones, the narrative tilts toward tragedy. This arc is the slow-burning unraveling of Dream’s fate, triggered by a decision he made earlier that the universe will not forgive: the spilling of family blood. The Furies—the titular Kindly Ones—are called to exact vengeance, and Dream is no longer able to run from the consequences of his choices.

What's so great about this volume is not merely its size, but its tone: it interweaves myth, memory, revenge, and sorrow into an operatic march towards ruin. Season 2 will go slow here, fleshing out Dream's tale in its entirety, with Orpheus, Lyta Hall, and the disintegrating Dreaming all coming into view.

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The Song of Orpheus (One-shot from The Sandman: Orpheus)

Read The Song of Orpheus before you watch those last few episodes. It recounts the sad story of Dream's son—yes, the Orpheus of legend—and his ill-fated love, Eurydice.

But above all, it provides you with the emotional background to appreciate the unbearable burden of Dream's choice to slay his own son on Orpheus' behalf. This one act of mercy is the fatal wound that he cannot heal from. The Sandman Season 2 will resonate with this tale's themes, and without it, much of Dream's journey might strike us more as symbolic than subjective.

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Death: The High Cost of Living (Bonus Episode Released July 31, 2025)

Though outside of the main narrative, the post-season bonus episode reimagines one of The Sandman's most popular spin-offs: Death: The High Cost of Living. It follows Death as she assumes human guise for a day, once every century, to more fully understand those she will ultimately lead on.

This one-off tale is both poignant and deep—a striking contrast to the dark fall of Dream, and an important philosophical counterpoint to the show's heavier narratives. A reminder of the passing pleasure of life and the value of presence over power.

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What to read after watching The Sandman Season 2?

Once the final volume of The Sandman Season 2 drops and Dream’s fate is sealed, you’ll likely find yourself aching for more—not just more plot, but more meaning, more character depth, and more of the metaphysical questions that The Sandman dares to ask. That’s where the extended universe comes in.

Endless Nights

This is your destination after the season concludes. The Sandman: Endless Nights is a short story anthology of seven pieces, one for each of the Endless. Each story gets to the core of who these beings actually are—Desire's cruelty, Despair's stillness, Destiny's silence, and Dream's burden.

Reading it after The Sandman season 2 brings a new perspective to the family dynamics that concluded the series finale, particularly since Delirium and Death hang around long after Dream is dead.

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Death: The Time of Your Life

This sequel to Death: The High Cost of Living centers on Hazel and Foxglove, a pair who meet loss and change with the same poise Death herself personifies. It's a tale of grief, of art, and of love under the burden of mortality—and it's an organic thematic extension after The Sandman season 2's tear-jerking conclusion.

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Gaiman's other mythologies

Lastly, take a look at Neil Gaiman's body of work. Although not direct continuations, books such as American Gods and Good Omens (with Terry Pratchett) carry The Sandman's DNA:

• An interest in the old mythology in new settings,
• The struggle between fate and free will, and
• Characters whose godhood is trumped only by their humanness.

If The Sandman encouraged you to dream, these books challenge you to continue questioning the nature of faith itself.

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The Sandman season 2 is not only a television event—it's the realization of decades of literary imagination. Neil Gaiman's world is richly textured, and although Netflix's take is amazingly loyal, the full force of Dream's journey can be truly experienced only through the comics. They provide context to his silences, backstory to his choices, and depth to every celestial dialogue.

By watching The Sandman season 2 before and after reading, you don't just know what's going on—you feel it. You understand the irony of Dream's ultimate decisions, the tragedy in Death's mercy, and the multidimensionality of a world in which tales create life. And when the Dreaming finally shuts its doors, you'll know that you watched it not only as a viewer, but as a proper reader of the Endless.