Who is Daniel Hall in The Sandman season 2? The new Dream explained and what comes next

The Sandman season 2 completes Morpheus’ arc by introducing Daniel Hall as his successor, the new Dream of the Endless. Daniel is the son of Lyta Hall and Hector Hall, uniquely conceived in the Dreaming during Lyta’s proximity to Rose Walker’s vortex, which marks him as different from birth.

In The Sandman season 2, Loki abducts baby Daniel, “burning away” his mortality, and the finale crowns him when Morpheus accepts death and passes the mantle. Jacob Anderson, known for Game of Thrones and AMC’s Interview With the Vampire, is revealed as adult Daniel in a kept‑secret casting turn.

The Sandman season 2 was released in two drops on Netflix: Volume 1 on July 3, 2025, and Volume 2 on July 24, with a bonus episode arriving July 31. That coda, The Sandman Presents: Death: The High Cost of Living, functions as an epilogue after The Sandman season 2, centering on Death’s day as a mortal and setting the last word thematically.

Daniel Hall’s path to the throne in The Sandman season 2

Daniel Hall begins as the Dreaming’s first and only child, conceived by mortals, the result of Lyta’s dream pregnancy near Rose’s vortex. Morpheus warns that the child “belongs to him,” foreshadowing succession. The Sandman season 2 tracks the fallout from Morpheus killing Orpheus, then the Kindly Ones’ vengeance that forces Dream to accept his fate.

After Loki throws baby Daniel into a fireplace, a ritualized moment that “burns” his humanity, Dream’s death allows Daniel to transform into an adult embodiment of Dream, wearing white robes and the Eagle Stone that signifies office. Episode 11, A Tale of Graceful Ends, doubles as Morpheus’ wake and Daniel’s first day, with the Dreaming slow to accept its new lord.

As per the Netflix Tudum report dated July 24, 2025, showrunner Allan Heinberg stated,

“It’s all one story: Dream learns to love and to be loved, and what love really means. But in doing so, he has to die and essentially be reborn in Daniel Hall, as a different Dream.”

Who plays the new Dream and how the show shaped him

Jacob Anderson debuts in the finale as adult Daniel/Dream, a reveal that the production guarded to preserve the moment. Entertainment Weekly reported on July 24, 2025, that the team cast Anderson for his intelligence and emotional range across his recent work. As per an Entertainment Weekly report dated July 24, 2025, showrunner Allan Heinberg said,

“He was an answered prayer, having him be available and the timing worked out.”

The series frames Daniel as both Daniel and Dream, distinct from Tom Sturridge’s Morpheus in disposition and look (including a subtle white hair streak that nods to the comics).

That difference is clear in his first meetings with the Endless and with Lucienne, where he is powerful yet unsure, a tonal pivot that helps The Sandman season 2 end by opening a new, more human‑adjacent chapter for the Dreaming. The adult‑Daniel reveal, and a rare Netflix post‑credits tag, close out The Sandman season 2’s narrative.

What changed from the comics, and what comes next after The Sandman season 2

The show keeps the broad spine of The Kindly Ones while retooling character dynamics. Loki and Puck are reframed as romantic partners who end up “raising” Daniel during the abduction arc, inviting empathy even as they act as tricksters. As per the Polygon report dated July 29, 2025, Heinberg said,

“If you’ve got two trickster figures with ambiguous sexualities and a baby, I just immediately went, ‘Well, these are just gay dads.”

The finale also shifts a well‑known comics beat into a post‑credits scene, a placement Netflix approved to preserve the episode’s final emotional beat before the tag. That structural change and Daniel’s more inquisitive introduction emphasize a gentler, inquisitive Dream distinct from Morpheus, which season 2 underlines in its closing family dinner.

Looking ahead, the bonus episode, The Sandman Presents: Death: The High Cost of Living, lands July 31, 2025, on Netflix as a coda to The Sandman season 2, adapting Death’s standalone story and offering a final thematic grace note to the saga.

Stay tuned for more updates.