The Sandman Audio Drama Is Getting Two More Installments

Fans of The Sandman don’t have to wait for Netflix to finally schedule its upcoming series to spend time in The Dreaming. Two more installments of The Sandman Audio drama have been greenlit!

The Sandman audio drama has been one of Audible’s all-time biggest hits so far. The first installment, adapted and directed by Dirk Maggs, became the best selling Audible original in the company’s history shortly after its release last year. Today Audible announced that both The Sandman: Act II and The Sandman: Act III have officially been approved for production under Maggs’ direction. 

Rachel Ghiazza, Head of US Content at Audible, made the announcement this morning. “Audible is proud to be a home for creative visionaries who are bringing extraordinarily immersive stories, like The Sandman, to life,” she said. “We cannot wait for listeners to enter The Dreaming again and wanted to give fans even more to look forward to by greenlighting not just one season but the next TWO highly anticipated installments.”

The second episode will pick up where The Sandman audio drama left off, starting with Season of Mists, Distant Mirrors, A Game of You, and Convergence. Act III will take on Brief Lives and Worlds Ends.

I have to admit, I’m excited to see how Maggs handles A Game Of You, which prominently features a transwoman in a time where a lot of mainstream comics only did so as a joke. Though the storyline has been criticized by some, Sandman author Neil Gaiman had many trans and queer friends in the 80s including trans activist Roz Kaveney, who the character Wanda was based on. She has a moody storyline where some people (including a Dianic cult) misgender her, but ultimately has a heroic end including a scene where Death addresses her properly as a woman, affirming her identity. 

Gaiman, who’s been a friend to the LGBTQ+ community and never shy about clearly putting queer representation into his work, has mentioned before that he might adjust some things in a modern light if he were writing them today. I’m curious to see if Dirk Maggs consults with him on that, and how Wanda’s story will be told now.

Gaiman has so far been cagey on how much Maggs is consulting with him on The Sandman audio drama adaptation. In the press release about these new installments, he said, “I’m excited to discover what other surprises the genius Dirk Maggs has up his sleeve in the next volumes.” He added, “Soon it will be time to meet the whole family, then to go back to Hell once more, as Morpheus confronts Lucifer in Season of Mists.”

That sounds like he isn’t entirely sure where Maggs is going with this. Still, the first installment was amazing so I’m going to stay optimistic.

The only downside is, we don’t yet have any details about when we can expect to hear Act II. So depending on when Netflix drops their series, which began filming in October, we might actually see Morpheus before we hear him again. Who knows? Keep your eyes (and ears) peeled- we’ll let you know when we know!

In the meantime, do yourself a favor and check out The Sandman audio drama over on Audible. 

Author: Khai

Khai is a writer, anthropologist, and games enthusiast. She is co-editor (alongside Alex DeCampi) of and contributor to “True War Stories”, a comic anthology published by Z2 Comics. When she’s not writing or creating games, Khai likes to run more tabletop RPGs than one person should reasonably juggle.

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