PIC EXC: Durdle Door is closed to the public for Tom Sturridge to film The Sandman season 2

June 28, 2023 Stan

Tom Sturridge was pictured filming The Sandman season 2 with a new character as Durdle Door landmark near Lulworth in Dorset was closed to the public for the Netflix show

The actor, 37, who plays Lord Morpheus/Dream, wore a dramatic black cape while cameras were rolling on the beach at the famous landmark.

The natural limestone arch on the Jurassic Coast is privately owned by the Weld Family who own the Lulworth Estate, but it is also usually open to the public.

Tom – who is in a relationship with Alexa Chung, 39 – shared the sand with a brand new character dressed in a ghostly white version of his outfit, while the film crew captured their interactions.

Tom’s all-black ensemble comprised trousers and a wrap front long sleeve top with a long mesh cape and train floating in the breeze.

PICTURE EXCLUSIVE: Tom Sturridge, 37, filmed scenes for season 2 of Netflix’s The Sandman on Tuesday, in pictures obtained exclusively by MailOnline

Snap: Tom shared the sand with a character dressed in a ghostly white version of his outfit, while the film crew captured their interactions

Season one: The Sandman is based on the DC comic by Neil Gaiman and follows Tom’s character Lord Morpheus AKA Dream, the cosmic being who controls all dreams

The star, who is the son of award-winning film director Charles Sturridg, looked ghostly pale with dark makeup adding the illusion of deep cheekbones and exhausted eyes.

The pair had a short exchange before the character in white walked away, carrying what looked like a lyre – a harp-like instrument made from animal horns.

The series is based on the DC comic by Neil Gaiman and follows Tom’s character Lord Morpheus AKA Dream, the cosmic being who controls all dreams.

When The Sandman is captured and held prisoner for more than a century, he must journey across different worlds and timelines to fix the chaos his absence has caused.

It has not been confirmed who the second character filming with Tom for season 2 is, but speculation is rife among fans that it could be the introduction of Orpheus.

In the DC comics, Orpheus is Morpheus’ son with muse Calliope.

Fans have speculated that filming taking place on a beach indicates it can only be an important and emotional scene between Morpheus and his son which is in one of the later books.

Details of the second series have been kept a secret, but it had been expected to focus on the next two volumes – Dream Country and Season of Mists.

Location: The cameras were rolling on the beach at Durdle Door, in Dorset

Closed: The famous Durdle Door landmark near Lulworth has been closed to tourists while filming for the Netflix show The Sandman takes place there

Fantasy: The actor, who plays Lord Morpheus/Dream, wore a dramatic black cape

Fantasy: The actor, who plays Lord Morpheus/Dream, filmed on the beach with a co-star

Who is it? It has not been confirmed who the second character filming with Tom for season 2 is, but speculation is it could be the introduction of Orpheus, Morpheus’ son with muse Calliope

Intense: The pair had a short exchange before the character in white walked away, carrying what looked like a lyre – a harp-like instrument made from animal horns

Marking out the moves: Tom stood over his co-star as they practiced the shoot

Huge production: The film crew took over the beach for filming

Taking direction: Tom and his co-star were talked through what was wanted of them

Breathtaking: The natural limestone arch on the Jurassic Coast is privately owned by the Weld Family who own the Lulworth Estate, but it is also usually open to the public

The comic was among the first graphic novels to appear on the New York Times bestseller list and is often regarded as one of the greatest graphic novels of all time.

Gaiman’s comic book series was first published from 1989-1996, but previous attempts to bring his beloved story to film were held up for years until Netflix signed a deal to produce the show in 2019.

It finally premiered on August 5 last year and featured some well known names including Charles Dance, Stephen Fry, Jenna Coleman and Gwendoline Christie as Lucifer.

Mark Hamill was also in the first series, voicing Mervyn Pumpkinhead, a chain-smoking janitor with a jack o’lantern for a head.

The Sandman’s first season has received generally positive reviews from critics, with a Time review calling it ‘one of the best small-screen comic adaptations ever made.’

However, a review published by USA Today echoed complaints from fans about its pacing, stating that the show was ‘excruciatingly slow and dull if not outright boring.’

In August, Neil Gaiman revealed plan for The Sandman season 2 including a new character, Wanda, a trans woman with an incredibly powerful storyline in the comic books.

Finishing touches: Wardrobe assistants ensured the actors’ costumes were perfect

Between-takes: Tom and his co-star were guided through filming by the crew

Stunning: Tourists were not allowed down onto the beach where filming took place

Set-up: Crew were seen moving equipment around at Durdle Door

Sensational: The famous landmark is being used to film scenes for the Netflix show

Teamwork: Tom and his new co-star were surrounded by crew members

Hiking! The team had to trek film equipment up and down

Jaw-dropping: Durdle Door is an iconic natural landmark

Wow! The scale of the production was clear from the number of team members at the beach

Rest stop: While off-duty the cast and crew had a set up to keep them from the elements

Set up: Tents were set up at the top of the cliff

He told Metro of Wanda’s including: ‘We made sure that we had, for the season two writers room, that we had trans and we had NB [non-binary] people in the writers room working on it because that seemed to us to be the only way to do it.

‘So The Sandman, we’ll get Wanda, we’ll get all of that stuff – as long as enough people watch season one and they let us keep going.’

Speaking about the future of The Sandman, he continued: ‘What’s lovely about Sandman, is we’ve taken the first two volumes basically, the first two books.

‘Preludes & Nocturnes and The Doll’s House are the first ten episodes. So it absolutely can keep going, we’ve got a lot more story… There were 3000 pages of Sandman altogether, and we have told the first 400 pages. So we have a way to go.’

In November, Netflix confirmed the return of The Sandman for season 2 with a mysterious teaser trailer for the fantasy drama.

The 30-second clip, which shows Dream’s Helm emerging from a sea of shifting sand, reveals that ‘the dream continues’ on Netflix, with the renewal news arriving three months after season 1 made its debut.

The first series had quite a long production time, to get the visual effects right, so it is thought series two might not air until spring/summer 2024.