If you’ve already watched all of the first season of The Sandman, you might be losing sleep over the cliff-hanger ending and wondering what to think about some of the more cryptic elements of the show. Neil Gaiman’s comic book series is packed with foreshadowing, referencing characters and plots in the first two books whose true significance wouldn’t be revealed until many years later. The show is using many of those same story beats to set up future seasons.

We’ll dig a little into how things played out in the comics to explain what’s likely in store for the very faithful adaptation. However, the show has already made some big deviations from the source material, so it’s possible even devoted fans will be surprised! Major spoilers are ahead for both the show and comics.

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What happens to Rose Walker?

Dream nearly kills Rose Walker in the final episode of The Sandman Season 1 because her power as the dream vortex was threatening to destroy the universe. Rose’s great-grandmother, Unity Kincaid, comes to the Dreaming in her sleep and finds a book in Lucienne’s library showing that she was meant to be this age’s dream vortex. But her destiny was changed because she fell victim to a sleeping sickness while Dream was imprisoned. While she slumbered, Unity was impregnated by “a golden-eyed man,” and the power of the dream vortex passed through her family to Rose.

In order to save Rose, Unity asks her to give up whatever makes her the dream vortex. Rose withdraws the power from her chest, which takes the form of a ruby heart that then cracks as Unity dies peacefully in her sleep. The dream vortex dies with her, and Rose awakens with her brother, Jed, sleeping next to her.

Rose seems happier in the show than in the comics, where she spends months brooding after her time in the Dreaming. Her and Lyta’s plots are much more closely connected in the show too, with Rose helping to raise her friend’s baby alongside Jed. Rose also finishes her book and submits it to be published in the show’s final episode, a process that takes much longer in the comics.

As a child of the Endless, it seems that Rose ages very slowly. The 21-year-old says she’s regularly mistaken for a teenager, and when she encounters people in the comics that she first met years ago at Hal’s B&B, they remark that she doesn’t seem to have aged. Giving up her heart in the comic makes Rose unable to feel love, until she’s eventually given a new heart by her grandparent, Desire.

What happens to Lyta’s baby?

Lyta becomes pregnant with her dead husband, Hector, in a dream made real due to her proximity to Rose Walker and her power as the dream vortex. As a result, their child is also effectively born from Dream since the Dreaming is an extension of his power. After destroying Hector’s ghost, Dream tells Lyta that the child belongs to him.

Quoting the Corinthian, Jed points out that Lyta’s baby can’t get in trouble if he doesn’t have a name, and Lyta doesn’t give him one herself. However, Dream remedies that situation. In The Sandman book “Season of Mists,” Dream visits Lyta before venturing into hell to rescue Nada, the woman he encountered when he went there to recover his helm. Lyta isn’t happy to see him but accepts the name he gives her baby — Daniel. Daniel’s connection to Dream and Lyta’s desire to protect her child are major plot points in The Sandman, as Dream’s enemies seek to use the baby against him.

What’s Lucifer planning?

The season ends in hell with Lucifer being visited by the demon lord Azazel, who announces that the armies of hell wish to march against the Dreaming and are waiting for the Morningstar’s approval to begin their plans. Rather than ordering the attack, Lucifer says she plans to do “something that I have never done before. Something that will make God absolutely livid and bring Morpheus to his knees.”

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Her plan is actually to abdicate her responsibility as ruler of hell, setting up for the events of the spin-off series Lucifer. She leaves Morpheus with the key to hell and the responsibility to help choose its next ruler. That’s a dangerous duty as the cosmic real estate is sought by angels, gods, the fair folk and other powerful entities. Expect to meet them next season.

Gault is resurrected as a dream, but who else is Morpheus creating? Will the Corinthian be resurrected?

The image of Dream working on a new nightmare is taken from the comics, though there it happens earlier in the story and serves as a backdrop for a meeting between Dream and Matthew where they discuss spying on Rose. The new nightmare makes an extremely brief appearance in “The Kindly Ones,” the ninth book of The Sandman series, where it brings Dream a series of seemingly random gifts and is happy to earn approval from its master.

Morpheus takes a while to re-create the Corinthian, only rebuilding him in that same book. The nightmare has the memories of his old self but is loyal to Morpheus, working with Matthew to rescue Daniel after he goes missing. The Corinthian appears earlier in the show, in a story set hundreds of years in the past, alongside Dream, who grants his wish to walk the waking world. There, the Corinthian first shows his desire for collecting by taking the eyes of a dissected ape.

Gault is actually an invention of the show, a fusion of two other escaped denizens of the Dreaming with different motivations. Brute and Glob were part of Dream’s palace guard and left during his absence. They sought to rule their own realm, building it from the dreams of Lyta, Jed and Hector’s ghost. Dream put a stop to their schemes and condemned them to darkness for thousands of years.

Dream’s struggle to change is a running theme in the comic that’s emphasized earlier and more prominently in the show through Gault, a nightmare who works to bring joy to the abused Jed. She wants to become a dream, and the fact that Morpheus acknowledges that she’s capable of change is an important step in his own personal journey.

Tom Sturridge in The Sandman is the Stuff of Dreams Morpheus leads us into the realm of the Dreaming.

Which of the Endless haven’t we seen?

This season introduces Dream, his older sister, Death, and their younger siblings, the twins Despair and Desire. However, there are three members of the Endless that have yet to appear in the show.

Destiny is the oldest member of the family. He dresses in a cowl and carries a book chained to his wrist where everything that will ever happen is written.

Often described as the Prodigal, Destruction gave up his responsibilities hundreds of years ago, believing that humans were more than capable of destroying themselves. He lives peacefully on earth but is eventually tracked down by Dream with the help of the youngest of the Endless — Delirium.

Delirium was once called Delight, and no one, not even Destiny, knows what caused her transformation. She’s the personification of madness and is deeply unstable.

What was Desire trying to do?

Unity was impregnated by Desire, who knew her progeny would become a dream vortex that Dream would have to destroy. The complex plot was designed to force Dream to invoke the wrath of the Furies, also known as the Kindly Ones, beings from Greek mythology that hound those who kill their own family members. They’re another aspect of the Hecate, or “the one who is three,” who Dream consults when searching for his lost tools and who warn Rose about the Corinthian.

Driven by revenge, the Kindly Ones can be nearly unstoppable and are one of the few forces in the universe that can truly harm the Endless. While Desire’s latest plot to hurt Dream failed, they will definitely try again.

Let's Examine the Ending of The SandmanTurn restless sleep into satisfying slumber with this explainer.