Sandman: How the extra episode prepares the second season

Netflix has finally confirmed that Sandman will get its long-awaited second season. The news was revealed with a video and a statement from Neil Gaiman, indicating that the rematch between Morpheus and Lucifer will happen.

Besides this indication, however, there are more clues about the future of the story in the extra chapter of the first season, released in August. Telling two stories, the episode hints at what the next steps of the series will be in its second year.

[From here on, spoilers for Sandman chapter 11]

The special episode of Sandman featured the stories A Dream of a Thousand Cats and Calliope. While the former appears to be a separate story, the latter shows Dream (Tom Sturridge) reuniting with the title character (Melissanthi Mahut) after freeing himself from the prison of the Order of the Ancient Mysteries. The goddess calls to Perpetual for help because she is being enslaved and abused by the writer Richard Madoc (Arthur Darvill).

To the audience’s surprise, this plea holds an important part of the Dream Lord’s story. As the episode reveals, he and Calliope were lovers and even had a child together. The problem is that the young man, named Orpheus, went to Hell after his beloved and ended up dead, a heavy loss that the couple was unable to overcome. Blaming Morpheus for the young man’s death, she ended the romance and stayed away from him for centuries, until she begged for his help in the present.

Dream helps the character, who frees himself from Richard’s clutches. The way he does this without a second thought impresses Calliope, who says, “you have changed, Oneiros. In the old days you would let me rot without blinking.” A transformation that he credits to the fact that he has “learned” things recently.

This observation brings us to the fourth episode of the series, when Perpetual meets Nada (Deborah Oyelade) while visiting Hell. Their conversation reveals that the young woman ended up in Lucifer’s realms 10,000 years ago and that only Morpheus’ forgiveness can set her free. The problem is that even though he has loved her for all that time, he still hasn’t been able to forgive her.

It is because she knows this impetuous side of Oneiros that Calliope is surprised that her former beloved comes to her aid. However, it is the way she deals with her attacker that sets up the next stages of Morpheus’ journey. This is because she asks Richard Madoc to be released from the punishment that the Lord of Dreams has bestowed upon him and explains that she has decided to forgive the writer so that she herself can heal from the wounds caused by him.

Dream is clearly surprised that she wants the freedom of the man who did her so much harm, but it is precisely the reflection brought by Calliope that serves as the starting point for Perpetual’s next steps.

As fans of the comics already suspected, the next season of the series will adapt Season of Mists, an arc that shows Morpheus returning to Hell to free Nothing. To avoid spoilers, we won’t give details beyond this basic synopsis, but it’s interesting to note that the first step of this trek was taken throughout the plot with Calliope.

First of all, Perpetual showed himself more open to forgiveness by releasing the deity who blamed him for the death of his son and left him. In addition, the muse presents another perspective for forgiveness, which certainly put Oneiros to thinking about the situation with Nada.

Now we can only wait to see how this journey will be shown on the screen, in a second season with no premiere date yet.

Meanwhile, fans can take advantage of the renewal to review the first year of Sandman, which is available on Netflix.