So much happened at the end of The Sandman that the "ending" really takes place over 3-4 episodes instead of just the finale. How did the epic tale of gods, monsters, and dreams on Netflix wrap things up? Let me be your oneirocritic (a very cool word I just looked up that means someone who interprets dreams) and guide you through it.
Did Dream/Morpheus *really* die at the end?
Yes! And let's start there, because it actually happens in Season 2, Episode 10 which is the third to last episode of The Sandman. There were some clues. For one, the episode is titled "Long Live the King," a phrase quite often said after the words "The King is Dead." For another, Death herself appears midway through the episode and asks where Dream is.
Because Dream's sister is Death, and they actually have a great relationship, Morpheus dies in a softer way than maybe the revenge-driven Lyta Hall would have liked. She doesn't shoot him with an arrow or drive a sword into his chest. Instead, our emo hero calls Death to him and after one final heart-to-heart allows her to take his hand. RIP, Morpheus!
Who showed up to Dream's funeral?
Episode 11 centered around a single event: Morpheus' funeral. Tom Sturridge only really appears in one flashback scene. The episode is all about the impact that Morpheus had on his siblings, subjects, and dreamers he met along the way. Despite the fact that a lot of people had a problem with him, the celebration of Lord Morpheus' life had a decent turnout. Almost all of the Endless siblings were there. The only one who skipped and stayed outside is Destruction. Hob Gadling, the immortal-ish man who was the closest thing Morpheus had to a BFF, got the invite. There were contingents from Norse mythology, Japanese mythology, the Lords of Chaos and Order, and the land of Fairie there as well. Both of Morpheus' ex-wives, Calliope and Nada, showed up. Rose Walker came with her friend Lyta Hall. So did Mad Hettie, who kinda messed with the two of them IRL. Joanna Constantine came with her new boyfriend, Good Corinthian.
Also in attendance were Alex Burgess, who Morpheus imprisoned in a nightmare for years, and Richard Madoc who abused Calliope. There was so much potential for drama in that funeral, it probably should have been a whole season instead of just one episode.
What's up with Daniel Hall, Dream's replacement?
Once Morpheus killed Orpheus (say that five times fast) and knew that his fate was more or less sealed, he named a human infant named Daniel Hall as the next Dream of the Endless to take over his duties when he died. The transition was not as smooth as Morpheus intended, however, thanks to Loki granting him his powers early, and burning his human baby body. Big yikes! The Kindly Ones and Daniel's mother, Lyta Hall, also infiltrated the Dreaming realm before Morpheus intended thanks to an impulsive fairy queen who called him away from his post at an inopportune moment. When Dream died, baby Daniel magically grew up and officially took the throne.
The dreamy Jacob Anderson, who you may know as Greyworm from Game of Thrones and should know as Louis de Pointe du Lac from Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire on AMC, plays that baby "all growed up" in both Episode 10 and Episode 11. Daniel might be a baby in an adult body with the powers of a deity and consciousness of the entire universe running through him, but he's well-suited to the job. Morpheus chose him because he is the only being to be conceived in the Dreaming, but it's his humanity that makes him a good replacement. He's empathetic. He has really good conversations with Lyta, Destruction, Fiddler's Green, and Hob Gadling. He pets the Hippogriff, which Morpheus would not do. He supports women in the workplace by promoting Lucienne from librarian to Prime Minister and allows Nuala to stay on.
Why didn't Daniel use his powers to bring Morpheus back?
Because he wouldn't have wanted him to. While Daniel does bring back some subjects while experimenting with his own supernatural abilities, Fiddler's Green suggests that this isn't necessarily the right thing to do. Morpheus chose to pay the price, he says, and stories have to end, or they don't have meaning. Ain't that the truth!
What was going on with that Shakespeare moment?
As I mentioned above, Tom Sturridge appears in one flashback moment while Daniel meets Hob Gadling. In the scene, we see the last time Morpheus met with William Shakespeare. He presents Morpheus with The Tempest, his final commission. While this happened centuries ago in the timeline of the waking world, Morpheus' desire to have a play about a magical ruler trapped on an island parallels his own unchanging state. But, as Lucienne points out, Morpheus did change. He made friends. He learned how to forgive, and even to love. Like Prospero in The Tempest, he is ultimately redeemed.
For what it's worth, we can also believe that Morpheus passed those lessons on to Daniel Hall. At the very end of Episode 11, when Morpheus' successor goes to meet his siblings for the first time at an Endless family dinner, we really believe that Daniel is going to be an even better Lord Dream–making the bittersweet ending for Morpheus a happy one over all.
Is there a post-credits scene?
Yes! After all of that is said and done, there's one tiny scene with the Kindly Ones in their cottage. They drink tea, reflect on what has come to pass and the cyclical nature of history and stories, and eat pastries. One of the treats, a fortune cookie, contains a poem written by The Sandman creator Neil Gaiman himself.
"Flowers gathered in the morning," it says, "Afternoon they blossom on. Still are withered in the evening. You can be me when I'm gone." That's about Daniel taking over for Morpheus right? Or life in general? The meaning of poems, like dreams, really are up for grabs sometimes.
Hang on. Why was there one more episode of The Sandman, then?
What's the deal with Episode 12, "Death: The High Cost of Living," which dropped by itself on Netflix on July 31, 2025? It's kind of like "A Dream of a Thousand Cats" and "Calliope," the bonus Season 1 episodes. It does not continue either Dream's story. It's a Death story. In a deleted scene from Season 1, Death tells Dream (Morpheus' Version) that once every 100 years she gives herself a day off to experience both life and death as a mortal human. That way, she can better understand what the humans she ushers are feeling and going through.
In Season 2, Episode 12, we get to see how one of those days plays out. Human-for-a-day Death meets a man named Sexton, played by former Merlin star Colin Morgan, who got kicked out of his apartment so that his roommate could hook up with her girlfriend while he was writing a suicide note. Kind of the perfect person for Death to befriend for a day, don't you think? She suggests that he tag around with her. After a roller coaster of events, they both get a new lease on life, even though Sexton is a human choosing to stick around for a little longer and Death is, you know, Death.
