Beginning in 2024, multiple women accused the writer Neil Gaiman of nonconsensual sexual activity. In a New York cover story, the women described a pattern of sexual assault, coercion, and nonconsensual BDSM. In the wake of these allegations, many of Gaiman’s TV and movie projects were put on hold. A musical based on Coraline has been canceled, the final season of Good Omens was shortened to a 90-minute episode, and Disney stopped working on an adaptation of The Graveyard Book. But not Netflix’s The Sandman — the show’s final season is set to drop in two parts this July. Some of the plotlines in season two — the troubling ones — were adapted long ago for television but have eerie parallels with the allegations made against Gaiman in real life. Here are answers to all your The Sandman questions, including how involved Gaiman was with season two, and if Netflix has had anything to say about it.

What has Neil Gaiman been accused of?

Eight women have come forward about abusive, coercive, or inappropriate relationships with Gaiman. They describe a pattern of sexual conduct that could look like BDSM but without any of the safeguards and communication that are the backbone of that community. One also implicated his ex-wife Amanda Palmer. First reported in a July 2024 episode of a Tortoise Media podcast, Scarlett Pavlovich accused Gaiman and Palmer of human trafficking. Palmer first introduced Pavlovich to Gaiman as the couple’s live-in nanny. She alleges Gaiman raped her multiple times, something she claims Palmer knew he might do. In a lawsuit, Pavlovich alleges  he “intended to coerce sexual services and free child care from Scarlett by causing her to believe that if she did not perform such labor and services, she would suffer serious harm or physical restraint.”

How did Netflix respond?

Netflix has not made a direct statement on the allegations against Gaiman, but it did announce that season two of The Sandman would be its final one. Showrunner Allan Heinberg insisted the decision was a creative one. “The Sandman series has always been focused exclusively on Dream’s story, and back in 2022, when we looked at the remaining Dream material from the comics, we knew we only had enough story for one more season,” he told Variety. Netflix had previously canceled the Sandman spinoff The Dead Boy Detectives in the summer of 2024.

So The Sandman was always supposed to be just two seasons?

That’s the company line. In another Variety interview, the show’s co-creator David S. Goyer doubled down, saying that the ending “was planned more than two years ago. And we had a lot of discussions, Allan and I, with Netflix. And obviously we love the books, but one of the concerns about some of the story arcs is that Dream isn’t in them very much.”

When The Sandman was originally published, the book ran monthly. The paperback editions were collected into ten books, with the first season of The Sandman covering the first two — Preludes & Nocturnes and The Doll’s House — and two stories from Dream Country released as a surprise bonus episode. “We just ended up burning through story faster than we thought we would,” Goyer said.

What is the release schedule for The Sandman season two?

The 12 episodes premiering in July on Netflix will cover material in the remaining seven-and-a-half books, all the way through The Wake, per Goyer. That is a lot of story for 12 episodes (including one bonus one), especially since many key characters are still not yet introduced.

Maybe there will be more surprise bonus episodes?

Maybe! There were plenty of The Sandman spinoffs and continuations after the comic book’s original run.

But the first season’s bonus episode contains one of the darkest chapters in The Sandman, and one that reads very differently after Gaiman’s accusers came forward. “Calliope” tells the story of a muse who is kept prisoner by a self-described feminist author. He rapes her for inspiration for a deep empathy to the female experience. The disconnect between the outward feminist in the bookstore and the alleged rapist at home takes on new meaning now.

What has Gaiman said about the allegations against him?

Gaiman has denied any allegations of sexual assault, instead characterizing these relationships as consensual. After the New York feature, Gaiman issued a statement on his website, writing, “I have never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity with anyone. Ever.”

“Some of the horrible stories now being told simply never happened, while others have been so distorted from what actually took place that they bear no relationship to reality,” he added. “I am prepared to take responsibility for any missteps I made.” In March 2025, Gaiman asked the court to dismiss Pavlovich’s lawsuit against him. The next month, he sued another accuser, Caroline Wallner. He claims Wallner violated her nondisclosure agreement by speaking to the media.

How involved was Gaiman in season two, and what have his collaborators said about the allegations?

In his Variety interview, Goyer stressed that Gaiman was less involved with season two of The Sandman. “I can say, personally, I had never glimpsed any of this,” Goyer said. “And even when the accusations first came out, I think we were three weeks from finishing filming season two — so we were very, very far down the path and Neil wasn’t as involved in season two as he was in season one.”

Goyer and the Netflix team felt the same, he said, about wanting to see the show through, given everyone else’s hard work on the series. “Obviously, it’s complicated. I have tremendous respect for women that come forward in those situations,” he said. “I know that Netflix, at the time, felt, God, we spent two years making this thing. There’s all these actors and writers and directors involved that, if we didn’t air it, wouldn’t be fully compensated for it. And so we just decided, we’re going to let this work speak for itself. But I’d be crazy to say it wasn’t weird.”

Tori Amos, who was friends with Gaiman and was partial inspiration for the character of Delirium, said she was “shocked” by the allegations. “And if the allegations are true, that’s not the Neil that I knew, that’s not the friend that I knew, nor a friend that I ever want to know,” she said in an interview with The Guardian. “So in some ways it’s a heartbreaking grief. I never saw that side of Neil. Neither did my crew. And my crew has seen a lot.”

Okay, I still want to watch. What’s the release schedule?

The always complicated art-versus-artist debate. Here’s the schedule breakdown for the final 12 episodes of The Sandman, streaming on Netflix.

Broken up into two volumes, episodes one through six will be available on July 3. Volume two, including episodes seven through 11, will be released on July 24. On July 31, a bonus episode titled “Death: The High Cost of Living,” will drop.

 Season two of the Neil Gaiman show is dropping on Netflix this month. Did the multiple allegations against him have any impact at all?