Why is ‘The Sandman’ ending after two seasons?
As the showbiz tides shift to tackle the summer breeze of Netflix, The Sandman fans the flames of an impending goodbye. Despite being one of the most well-received comic adaptations of contemporary times, the frustration is palpable about its cut-short journey. Originally, the show was slated for a longer run, but now that it’s about to conclude with just two seasons, it makes one curious what triggered the decisions.
Ahead of the release of the first half of The Sandman’s second season, executive producer David Goyer was in conversation with Variety. Already, the show’s brief run, especially amid the sexual misconduct allegations against author Neil Gaiman, has raised eyebrows. However, according to Goyer, its conclusion has nothing to do with it, or the budget, or viewership. The Sandman’s ending was reportedly mapped out over two years ago.
Although Goyer and Allan Heiberg have discussed the matter at hand intensely, they hit a setback with Dream’s storyline. “Obviously, we love the books, but one of the concerns about some of the story arcs is that Dream isn’t in them very much,” he explained. Consequently, they were in a tough spot, deciding whether six episodes without Dream would make sense.
What heightened the dilemma was that despite the original comic running for 75 issues, they just “ended up burning through story faster” than they expected. Goyer added that in several such instances, the source material they relied on to make an episode would be four or five issues. As a result, initially, they thought they would be able to churn out four seasons with ten episodes each. For those unaware, The Sandman season one had 11 episodes.
Speaking about the 12-episode run of season two, Goyer commented, “When we talked through it, we felt, let’s make a slightly bigger season two and take it through the end”. He teased that there’s always potential for some spin-off material if the audience welcomes it. But at that point, the concern was whether The Sandman should walk for three seasons or four. Instead, they decided to “take it all the way through The Wake”.
The Sandman: The Wake is the tenth and final issue of Gaiman’s comic book series. The decision was allegedly taken before the accusations were levelled against the author last summer. Goyer hadn’t seen any of it coming, and when the news broke out, the series was just three weeks away from completing filming season two. “We were very, very far down the path and Neil wasn’t as involved in season two as he was in season one,” Goyer pointed out.
Nevertheless, the showrunner does understand Netflix’s predicament at the moment. He clarified that he has incredible respect for the women who came out, stating, “It’s really concerning, but I know that Netflix, at the time, felt, ‘God, we spent two years making this thing. There’s all these actors and writers and directors involved that, if we didn’t air it, wouldn’t be fully compensated for it’.” While they took a leap of faith, they knew it was indeed weird. However, knowing it was a gamble, now all eyes are on the audience.
The Sandman season two will be released in two parts, with the first airing on July 3rd, followed by the second on July 24th. Netflix will also release a bonus episode on July 31st.