The world of The Dreaming in Netflix's The Sandman has expanded to include gods, faeries, hobgoblins, security personnel and a sarcastic dog, Deadline reported.
The latest additions come in the form of Orpheus, The Sandman's (Tom Sturridge) son with Calliope (Mellisanthi Mahut), played by Ruairi O'Connor. Then there are three Norse gods as promise: Odin, Thor and Loki. Odin is played by Clive Russell while Thor and Loki are played the The Gentlemen's Laurence O'Fuarain and Freddie Fox, respectively.
Rounding out the new cast announcements are the faerie siblings Nuala (Ann Skelly) and Cluracan (Douglas Booth), King Auberon's hobgoblin jester Puck (Jack Gleeson), driver and security agent Wanda (Indya Moore) and Destruction or The Prodigal's (Barry Sloane) cynical dog Barnabas (voiced by Steve Coogan).
In May, the rest of the Endless were announced. Joining Dream, Death (Kirby Howell-Baptiste), Desire (Mason Alexander Park) and Despair (Donna Preston) are Destruction, aka The Prodigal, Delirium (Esmé Creed-Miles) and Destiny (Adrian Lester).
Also returning for the much anticipated second season are Patton Oswalt (Matthew the Raven), Gwendoline Christie (Lucifer Morningstar), Vivienne Acheampong (Lucienne), Jenna Coleman (Johanna Constantine), Razane Jammal (Lyta Hall), Asim Chaudhry (Abel), Stephen Fry (Gilbert), Ferdinand Kingsley (Hob Gadling), Sanjeev Bhaskar (Cain), and Vanesu Samunyai (Rose Walker).
Gods and faeries join The Endless in The Sandman season 2
Orpheus is a poet, musician and oracle. He also has a very romantic yet tragic love story. His story follows the original Greek myth closely. Considering that one of the second season's episode bears the title “The Song of Orpheus,” he's going to be a central character in season two. And if there is Orpheus, there must be Eurydice and I'm waiting for her casting announcement.
The gods Odin, Thor and Loki follow their Norse origins. However, in Neil Gaiman's The Sandman, Loki plays a more central character, but all three first appear in the graphic novel Season of Mists, also one of the announced episodes. His father Odin — and Dream's ally — temporarily frees him from punishment to accompany him and Thor in negotiating for the rulership of Hell. Loki is Loki in whatever universe he's in, so he ends up deceiving the other two but fails to fool Dream.
The Faeries The Cluracan and Nuala also first appear in Season of Mists. The Cluracan is described as an amoral, merry, capricious homosexual rogue, very much like Loki in his trickster mode. Without giving away much of the plot, he does end up doing something good for his sister who has an attachment to Dream. The Cluracan is named after the Irish mythological creature, the leprechaun Cluricaun. Yes, Nuala's name is familiar. You're thinking of the other sibling pair in 2008's Hellboy II: The Golden Army. No, this is not her.
If you ever read Shakespeare, specifically, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Sandman's Puck was inspired by that character. Another trickster, he will most likely appear in several episodes, especially the ones with Loki. Another character he's most associated with, King Auberon, is yet to be cast.
In the graphic novels, Wanda is Barbie's (Lily Travers) friend, but in the series she may end up pulling double duty as driver and security agent, most likely for Dream.
And there's a dog, too!
And then we have Barnabas. In the graphic novels, he appears as a cross between a German Shepherd and another breed, but it's never specified. His origins, as well, remain a mystery. While he belonged to Destruction, he was assigned to guard Delirium.
The long-awaited second season was interrupted by the dual WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes last year. There's no word yet as to the specific date of The Sandman's return, but all signs point to sometime in 2025.
While we wait, we can speculate on what season two will look like with the available information: the complete members of the Endless Family and the six titles out of the 12 episodes such as the already mentioned The Song of Orpheus and Season of Mists.
Just going by the title, it's possible that the second season could open with The Song of Orpheus. However, if we by chronological order, we could start with Season of Mists arc which will encompass More Devils Than Vast Hell Can Hold — which is a line from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Ruler of Hell.
It's very plausible that The Song of Orpheus could be in the middle of the season since it's the central story in the sixth volume. It could then flow into Brief Lives, volume seven of The Sandman, which will also include Family Blood, which may yet be the final episode.
My sort of fearless forecast, the episode list would look like this:
- Season of Mists Prologue
- SOM
- More Devils Than Vast Hell Can Hold
- SOM
- The Ruler of Hell
- Thermidor
- The Song of Orpheus
- Brief Lives
- BL
- BL
- BL
- Family Blood
And if we go by the special episodes released after season one, we could get two as well. Fingers crossed.
Season one of The Sandman is currently streaming on Netflix.
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