The best episodes of The Sandman’s first series are often the ones that bring different characters together and converge individual storylines. The Sandman is one of the best TV shows based on comics books and is well worth a watch for anyone interested in fantasy and science fiction.
The first season of The Sandman Netflix TV show was brilliant, with fan and critical acclaim. While a Season 2 remains unconfirmed but incredibly likely, fans will be hoping for a faithful continued adaptation. There are plenty of stories in Neil Gaiman's The Sandman comic book run, and fans will want to see a lot of these brought forward to the TV show.
8 Season Of Mists
Season of Mists has lots of great moments, a family meeting between the Endless and lots more development of the Nada character. We saw a brief glimpse of Nada in the fourth episode of the first series, so fans will already know who she is and her importance to Dream.
Season of Mists was originally a seven-part issue so while it's a shorter story it should be more than enough to fit into an episode or two, depending on how the TV writers adapt it.
7 Tales In The Sand
Another story that tackles the relationship between Dream and Nada, Tales in the Sand can help to shed some light on the backstory of this couple that was alluded to in Season 1's fourth episode while Dream and Matthew were in hell. Alluding to the Dream and Nada backstory was one of the things Netflix's The Sandman adaptation did right, and fans would love to see more of that history expanded upon.
While Tales in the Sand is only one issue, it deals with a lot of stuff that could be played out at a much slower pace in the show adaptation. While there are certainly better stories in the entire run, Tales in the Sand is worth an adaptation in the show.
6 Calliope
A story about a frustrated author that captures a Greek muse and meets the consequences at the hands of Morpheus, Calliope is unlike any of the other stories found in The Sandman universe. Madoc is one of the most deplorable villains in The Sandman, and audiences would likely hate the character from the off.
A much more complex story in nature, and one that's quite graphic, the Netflix show writers have already proven they can take the darker stories from the comics and make them work in a way that's appropriate for the show.
5 A Dream Of A Thousand Cats
A Dream of a Thousand Cats takes up a full issue and deals with cats in the Dreaming discovering their freedom without living with humans. It's a wacky issue and may feel a little out of place compared to other stories from The Sandman, but it could be a fun episode.
In an age of TV where audiences are obsessed with cute animal-based characters, the Sandman could do well to adapt A Dream of a Thousand Cats into its Netflix show.
4 A Midsummer Night's Dream
An interesting look into the past, A Midsummer Night's Dream adapts the William Shakespeare play of the same name. Dream and Shakespeare drive a bargain, leading to the titular play as well as others.
It would be an interesting episode of the show and give a lot of fun to the series with a popular historical figure like Shakespeare being involved.
3 A Game Of You
The fifth volume of The Sandman comics, A Game of You covers Barbie, who was introduced in the first season of the show. In this story we explore her life as she finds that she no longer dreams and has moved on from her life with Ken. While Barbie is not exactly the strongest character of Neil Gaiman's The Sandman comics, audience's reception to her was positive.
This is generally the least favorite volume by the fans, but being adapted into the TV show it could impress them a bit more.
2 Fables And Reflections
While it's a collection of short stories about Dream and not a part of the main storyline, the show should weave in material from Fables and Reflections into season 2 adjacent to the main storyline. There are many great comics like Sandman to read which borrow from Fables and Reflections' short story style.
There's a lot of great material in Fables and Reflections that add more backstory to Dream and further illustrate the long life he's had. The show would be better for including it.
1 Brief Lives
Often considered the 'home stretch' of The Sandman, Brief Lives has a lot of interplay between the different members of the Endless, bringing Delirium, Destruction, and Death into the fold in a big way.
Since the first season has introduced a few members of the Endless and alluded to the dynamics between them, Season 2 could build on that in a massive way by including the Brief Lives story. Brief Lives is one of the best Neil Gaiman Sandman stories, so it stands to reason it'll appear on the show eventually even if it isn't in Season 2.
The Sandman was released in 2022 with the first ten episodes available on Netflix.