Netflix has dropped one of its most anticipated projects of the year in The Sandman, a mega-budget adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s acclaimed fantasy graphic novels.
Given that fans have been waiting decades for a faithful live-action version of the epic story, it’s little surprise that many have opted to binge watch these initial episodes on the day of release.
The first season adapts Preludes & Nocturnes and The Doll’s House, seeing endless being Dream (Tom Sturridge) escape captivity and begin searching for the objects of his power.
Later, he crosses paths with a young woman named Rose Walker (Vanesu Samunyai), who is more important to the fate of the universe than she could possibly imagine.
Though these two stories are wrapped up rather neatly, The Sandman ends with a tease of what’s to come next, with Gwendoline Christie’s Lucifer Morningstar returning to the forefront. Here’s what you need to know.
The Sandman ending explained: Who is Azazel?
The final scene of The Sandman’s first season takes us back to Hell, where we see Lucifer Morningstar still reeling from her defeat in a duel with Dream, for which she vows revenge.
Companion Mazikeen informs her that demon battles have been scheduled to lift her spirits, but Lucifer refuses the offer only to be faced with something even less pleasant – a meeting with Lord Azazel.
In the comic books, Azazel is one of three co-rulers of Hell, alongside Lucifer and the as-yet-unseen Beelzebub.
Inspired by a demon mentioned in the Bible, Azazel is depicted as a disembodied jumble of menacing eyes and sharp-toothed mouths, who communicates through a dark, jagged rift in space.
Here, he claims to be representing the “assembled lords of Hell” who have united in their hatred of Dream, pledging their armies to Lucifer and urging her to take over his realm.
“You wish to invade The Dreaming?” asks Lucifer. “And then perhaps the waking world? And, one day, even the Silver City?”
Azazel replies: “Precisely. Since none of us may leave Hell, we may as well expand its borders until Hell is all there is.”
Lucifer promises to act on Azazel’s advice, although secretly does not trust the ominous entity. When asked by Mazikeen what she plans to do next, the Lord of Hell has a most ominous response.
“Something that I have never done before. Something that will make God absolutely livid. And bring Morpheus to his knees,” she reveals.
What will Lucifer do in The Sandman season 2?
This threatening scene heavily implies that, if The Sandman is renewed for a second season, it will begin by adapting collection four of Gaiman’s graphic novel series, titled Season of Mists.
The story begins with Dream returning to Hell to retrieve a lover from millennia ago, Nada, who briefly appeared in the fourth episode, where she begged him for salvation after so long spent tortured in the underworld.
He refused her desperate pleas, much to the surprise of Matthew the Raven.
When Dream later returns to Hell to negotiate Nada’s release, Lucifer ambushes him by releasing all of her demons and abdicating the throne immediately after to start a new life on Earth.
This development would catch The Sandman up to the premise of Lucifer’s spin-off series, in which the former king opens a nightclub in Los Angeles called Lux.
It seems that this act of defiance is the gesture that will make God “livid” as most celestials agree she should remain confined to her designated realm, a matter previously explored in the Lucifer television show.
Who plays Azazel in The Sandman?
In The Sandman, Azazel is voiced by actor Roger Allam, who viewers will know from such hit television shows as Endeavour, Game of Thrones and The Thick of It. Most recently, he starred in BritBox and ITV’s Murder in Provence.
The Sandman is available to stream on Netflix. Check out more of our Fantasy coverage or visit our TV Guide to see what’s on tonight.
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