The Sandman Season 1 recap: Revisiting key events of the show ahead of Season 2 premiere on Netflix

The Sandman can be streaming on Netflix (Image via Instagram / thesandmanofficial)
The Sandman can be streaming on Netflix (Image via Instagram / thesandmanofficial)

The Sandman Season 1 premiered on Netflix on August 5, 2022, and after a wait of almost 3 years, the second season will be dropping on the streamer on July 24, 2025. Based on Neil Gaiman’s legendary fantasy novel by the same name, the official synopsis of season 1, as mentioned in Rotten Tomatoes, reads

“When the Sandman, aka Dream, the cosmic being who controls all dreams, is captured and held prisoner for more than a century, he must journey across different worlds and timelines to fix the chaos his absence has caused.”

As the release of The Sandman Season 2 is coming closer, let us now take a look at what happened in season 1.


Roderick Burgess captures Dream instead of Death in The Sandman Season 1

In The Sandman Season 1, Roderick Burgess—an aging occultist tries to summon Death after being devastated by his son’s passing. However, he mistakenly captures Dream, who had come on Earth to get hold of the nightmare Corinthian. As Dream gets captured, Corinthian makes use of this situation and helps Burgess to keep Dream in captivity. Ultimately, after many years of being held captive, Dream finally escapes after Burgess’ death.

After spending centuries in captivity, Dream goes back to Dreamland but finds that his tools are missing. To summon Fates, which is required for him to get his tools back, Dream absorbs Gregory, a gargoyle’s essence. As Fate is satisfied with the offering, he presents Dream with three cryptic messages that say, Constantine had his pouch of sand, his helm was traded to the Demon and is currently in Hell, and Ethel’s son Joel had stolen his Ruby.


The universe is saved at the end of The Sandman Season 1

By the end of season 1, things come to a head as Corinthian is shown to capture Rose and Jed, believing that Rose is the Dream Vortex. He tells her that because of that, she would be killed by Morpheus. Corinthian then tries to persuade Rose to destroy Morpheus so that he can live.

However, Dream enters the scene, and Corinthian’s plans are foiled. In the ensuing confrontation, Dream gets wounded as Rose’s increasing powers start blurring the lines between dream and reality, thus making him vulnerable. Ultimately, however, Dream successfully unmakes Corinthian.

It is further revealed that not Rose, it was actually her great-grandmother Unity who was the vortex power. As Rose gives it back to her, she dies, and as a result, the universe and Rose are saved.

As The Sandman Season 1 draws to an end, the world is shown to be moving on with Rose becoming a writer, Lyla having a baby, and Hal pursuing his Broadway dreams. In hell, on the other hand, Lucifer is shown to be plotting with Azazel and the Lords of Hell to wage war on Dream and the waking world.

The Sandman is available to watch on Netflix.


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Edited by Tanisha Aggarwal