logo
Watch: Morpheus protects the Dreaming in 'Sandman' Season 2, Volume 2 teaser

Watch: Morpheus protects the Dreaming in 'Sandman' Season 2, Volume 2 teaser

UPI10 hours ago
Netflix is teasing Volume 2 of "Sandman's" second and final season. Photo courtesy of Netflix
July 7 (UPI) -- Netflix is previewing the second portion of The Sandman Season 2 ahead of its July 24 arrival on the streamer.
The trailer released Monday shows Morpheus (Tom Sturridge) facing the consequences of "spilling family blood" and contemplating how he will protect the Dreaming from his enemies.
Season 2 begins weeks after the events of Season 1, as Dream attempts to restore his palace and forget the past, according to an official synopsis.
"This season is about Dream's having to accept responsibility for his arrogance, for his ignorance, and for his feelings -- which he doesn't even admit to having," says showrunner and writer Allan Heinberg. "But sooner or later, we all have to reckon with the fact that the struggles we face are often of our own making. Dream must now figure out what to do about it."
The series also stars Ruairi O'Connor, Freddie Fox, Clive Russell, Laurence O'Fuarain, Ann Skelly, Jack Gleeson, Indya Moore, Steve Coogan, Gwendoline Christie, Boyd Holbrook, Patton Oswalt, Vivienne Acheampong, Charles Dance, Jenna Coleman, David Thewlis, Kirby, Mason Alexander Park, Donna Preston, Vanesu Samunyai, Stephen Fry, John Cameron Mitchell, Asim Chaudhry, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Joely Richardson, Niamh Walsh, Sandra James-Young, Razane Jammal, Esme Creed-Miles, Adiran Lester and Barry Sloane.
A bonus episode premieres July 31. Season 2 concludes the series.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Squid Game's unnecessary final season is another example of algorithms trumping art
Squid Game's unnecessary final season is another example of algorithms trumping art

Yahoo

time23 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Squid Game's unnecessary final season is another example of algorithms trumping art

If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, BGR may receive an affiliate commission. There's a familiar TV discourse taking shape online right now, the kind that I suspect will look awfully familiar to you if you remember the way Game of Thrones crashed and burned in its eighth and final season. Basically, it's now Squid Game's turn. Netflix's Korean juggernaut, once a global phenomenon and creative lightning bolt, just dropped its third and final season over the weekend — a season, just to clear, that nobody really asked for, and one that many viewers seem to actively regret watching. Today's Top Deals Best deals: Tech, laptops, TVs, and more sales Best Ring Video Doorbell deals Memorial Day security camera deals: Reolink's unbeatable sale has prices from $29.98 Squid Game Season 3 is, to be sure, currently the #1 show in the US on the streaming giant. But that top ranking, impressive as it sounds, doesn't tell the show's full story, either. According to data from Samba TV, for example, 1.6 million US households watched the premiere over its first three days. That's a big number — and yet it still marks a 17% drop from the Season 2 debut. Some of that may be a function of timing: Season 2 dropped the day after Christmas, when lots of people are sitting around at home thanks to holiday time off from work. That said, it's a little more revealing how sharply Squid Game has slipped in audience sentiment. The Rotten Tomatoes data certainly tells a story of diminishing returns: Season 1: 95% critics' score / 84% audience score Season 2: 83% critics' score / 63% audience score Season 3: 80% critics' score / 50% audience score In terms of the audience reaction, that's a free fall. Accordingly, the online commentary from fans has been pretty brutal. 'This ending sucked and felt like a cash grab for an American Squid Game,' one viewer wrote on X. Added another: 'There was no need to split this into a third series … actually, no need to make another series after the first.' Many echoed the same complaint — that Season 3 felt bloated, poorly written, and driven more by corporate math than creative vision. Here's the truth: Squid Game never needed a second season, let alone a third. It is the height of irony to me that a show about the evils of dog-eat-dog capitalism has kind of … well, strike that. Not kind of. Has very much become a victim of that same capitalism the show skewered in Season 1. Squid Game's final season was filled with contrivances and baffling character choices that, if you ask me, made the show's entire emotional logic collapse ('456 went through all that just to never talk to his daughter again?' one Rotten Tomatoes audience reviewer asked. 'Seriously?'). For Netflix, the numbers may justify the decision. For the rest of us, this is another reminder that the world of TV was not built by people who know how to leave well enough alone. Likewise, streaming TV is not a game where subtlety or quitting while you're ahead ever seem to rule the day. If you do decide to take the plunge and watch Season 3, don't be surprised if, when it's over, you find yourself wishing the games had ended a long time ago. Don't Miss: Today's deals: Nintendo Switch games, $5 smart plugs, $150 Vizio soundbar, $100 Beats Pill speaker, more More Top Deals Amazon gift card deals, offers & coupons 2025: Get $2,000+ free See the

Netflix's Alice in Borderland is the perfect fix for your Squid Game withdrawal
Netflix's Alice in Borderland is the perfect fix for your Squid Game withdrawal

Yahoo

time24 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Netflix's Alice in Borderland is the perfect fix for your Squid Game withdrawal

If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, BGR may receive an affiliate commission. For many viewers, Squid Game Season 3 didn't quite stick the landing. Whether it was the final season's slower pacing, some bizarre character arcs, or just the feeling that the novelty had worn off of the biggest Netflix hit of all time, plenty of fans were left wanting more. If that includes you, here's some good news: Netflix has a Japanese survival thriller that I actually think might scratch the itch that Squid Game didn't quite reach for you. The show is Alice in Borderland, and its story is likewise built around high-pressure games, tests of characters' morality, and the unsettling sense that no one is ever truly safe. Like Squid Game, it drops ordinary people into extraordinary and deadly scenarios and forces them to play for their lives — confronting damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't choices along the way. Today's Top Deals XGIMI Prime Day deals feature the new MoGo 4 and up to 42% off smart projectors Best deals: Tech, laptops, TVs, and more sales Best Ring Video Doorbell deals The series, which is sitting at a 91% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, begins with Arisu, a listless gamer and slacker, who finds himself suddenly transported to an empty, alternate version of Tokyo. He's quickly forced to participate in a series of sadistic games, each one marked by a playing card that determines its difficulty and theme (players encounter everything from logic puzzles to physical endurance and psychological torment). Losing means death, while winning earns players days of 'visa' to extend their survival. Fail to enter a new game before your visa expires, and I bet you can guess what happens to your life expectancy. Visually, these two extremely dark Netflix shows share a stark, cinematic style that's both surreal and brutal. Alice in Borderland leans more into sci-fi than Squid Game, with Tokyo essentially becoming a nightmarish game board — every deserted building or alleyway another potential deathtrap. The action is tightly choreographed, the tension rarely lets up, and the worldbuilding gets much deeper in Season 2. I should add: Now is also the perfect time to catch up on the series. Netflix has confirmed that Season 3 of Alice in Borderland is coming this September — so whether you're discovering it for the first time or revisiting the chaos, there's still time to dive in before the story continues. If you're craving another hit of stylish survival drama, and you're still a little miffed that Squid Game didn't go out as strongly as you might have liked, put Alice in Borderland at the top of your watchlist right now. Don't Miss: Today's deals: Nintendo Switch games, $5 smart plugs, $150 Vizio soundbar, $100 Beats Pill speaker, more More Top Deals Memorial Day security camera deals: Reolink's unbeatable sale has prices from $29.98 See the

The Old Guard's Charlize Theron and cast on centuries-old same-sex love stories
The Old Guard's Charlize Theron and cast on centuries-old same-sex love stories

Yahoo

time36 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

The Old Guard's Charlize Theron and cast on centuries-old same-sex love stories

The Old Guard movies teem with astounding action sequences from hand-to-hand combat to a daring helicopter rescue. But a pair of centuries-long same-sex love stories, platonic or otherwise, adds emotional heft and heightened stakes to these tales of a band of immortals fighting for humanity. Based on the graphic novels from writer Greg Rucka, The Old Guard (2020) delivered a love story for the ages between Marwan Kenzari's Joe and Luca Marinelli's Nicky while hinting at a deep connection between Charlize Theron's Andromache of Scythia (Andy) and Veronica Ngô's Quynh, who's been trapped in an iron maiden in the ocean for centuries. Henry Golding, Luca Marinelli, Marwan Kenzari, Charlize Theron, Kiki Layne in 'The Old Guard 2.'Courtesy of Netflix Spoilers ahead. In director Victoria Mahoney's The Old Guard 2, Uma Thurman, who recently played the president in the queer favorite Red, White & Royal Blue, stars as Discord (the earliest immortal) unshackles Quynh to reach the newest Old Guard member, Nile (KiKi Layne) through her relationship with Andy. With Quynh, who pervaded Andy's memories in the first film, free from her watery prison, a reunion between them, 500 years in the making, becomes a centerpiece of the sequel. 'It's truly been one of my top favorite relationships that I've ever been a part of in the development period because we get to explore it as a thought, really, in the first one. And it really served one purpose, and that was to just say that Andy is haunted by something, right?' Theron tells Out.' 'I knew that she was going to be a big part of it just because of how much we emotionally leaned on her for Andy's emotional story. And therefore, it was never kind of like this linear exploration. It's been this kind of searching and grabbing,' she adds. 'We've had to discover it in a way as we're going along. And to me, that is almost exactly who they are to each other. They had to do that same thing with each other. And since they haven't seen each other in 500 years, they're grabbing onto memories the way I can't even remember things when I was five years old. We make history, we remember it the way we want to.' A quick internet search turns up fan sites devoted to Andy and Quynh and their truly epic story. Andy wields a long double-sided axe, a labrys, an ancient Greek symbol of power adopted by lesbians in the 1970s (who can forget Corky's labrys tattoo in Bound?). Still the mystery of their relationship is a draw for Theron, who's starred in overtly queer roles in Monster and Atomic Blonde. 'I love that the two of them are coming together with all of that and that we don't get into the specifics. They just are. We're not underlining them. We're not saying who they are to each other, they're just living those circumstances,' Theron says. 'And I love those kind of relationships.' Uma Thurman as Discord in 'The Old Guard 2.'Courtesy of Netflix The first Old Guard film from Gina Prince-Bythewood released at the height of the pandemic in 2020, introduced the immortal love story between Nicky and Joe that included swoon-worthy speeches about their love. "He's not my boyfriend. This man is more to me than you can dream,' Joe says at the start of a romantic speech. They're back in The Old Guard 2, forever at each other's side, hundreds of years into their relationship. 'For me, it's a very rich connection. And whether the audience picks up the fact that they're lovers or soulmates or brothers or in my mind, it can have any of those qualities and doesn't necessarily have to be specifically one of those forms of sharing love,' Kenzari says. Luca Marinelli as Nicky and Marwan Kenzari as Joe in 'The Old Guard of Netflix Friendship among women and a mentorship between Andy and Nile deepens in The Old Guard 2 as well. Layne touches on the film's chosen family onscreen and off. '[Mentorship] it's something that the first film really started to set up, just kind of this beautiful journey that [Nile and Andy] go on of literally first starting off fighting each other and then Nile, I mean, sacrificing her life. She's immortal, but saving Andy and coming back for the team and really choosing the Old Guard as her family,' Layne says. 'We see that continuing in the second film, and seeing what she's learning. Nile is learning from Andy, and I get to learn from Char and learn from Uma this time around too.' Though Discord is The Old Guard 2's villain, she's imbued with a sense of ethics gone awry. Thurman says her character has a 'deep respect' for what 'Andy has created for herself…which is the ability to continue to connect and to have closeness with others and give her life meaning.' Existential questions of humanity are the themes of the film, Thurman says, but Andy and Discord face them from differing perspectives. 'They're just coming at the sort of pondering good and evil and losing faith and losing hope. … I think Discord is…is a little bit shadier or at a different point in her own struggle with giving up, losing hope, losing faith, and letting darkness consume,' she says. 'I think people go through that in their own lives.' is now streaming on .This article originally appeared on Out: The Old Guard's Charlize Theron and cast on centuries-old same-sex love stories

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store