Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon stars unite to play a couple in The Sandman

The second and final season of The Sandman will premiere on Netflix next month, and while I'm a little bummed that the show won't adapt the full depth and breadth of the comic book, it looks like we're in for a good time.

And the show will adapt some of the most famous stories from the comic, including "A Midsummer Night's Dream," where we get a completely different perspective on Shakespeare's famous play. Jack Gleeson, whom Game of Thrones fans will remember as the detestable King Joffrey, will play the mischievous spirit Puck. We'll also get a story where various figures of myth and legend come to the Dreaming, where our main character Dream (Tom Sturridge) holds dominion, to try and convince Dream to give them dominion over Hell, which Dream gains in another story we don't have time to get into here. Gotta save some details for the show, right?

Anyway, one of mythological figures in the mix is Loki, the Norse of mischief and trickery. He'll be played by Freddie Fox, whom House of the Dragon fans know as Gwayne Hightower.

Later in the story, Puck and Loki team up for a mischievous caper that ends up having huge effects on the wider story. An image of them appeared recently in SFX Magazine:

So they're dressed up as Catholic priests...or cardinals, or popes or whatever; I'm not sure what kind of robes those are. In any case, you can bet that neither the fairie trickster nor the Norse god have much respect for Catholicism, but they do both enjoy profaning the sacred, so the costumes make perfect sense.

Freddie Fox added some context, saying that "Puck and [Loki] have a relationship, a long-standing, I guess, romantic relationship… They’re a bit like a bickering old couple who go off and do their own thing.”

So far as I know, the bit about Puck and Loki having a romance is new for the TV show; they work together in the comics, but aren't together together. But sure, why not? They have a lot in common.

The second season of The Sandman will come out in waves. The first six episodes will drop on Netflix on Thursday, July 3; feel free to enjoy them over Independence Day weekend. Another five will follow on Thursday, July 24. That will close out the story, but we'll also get a final bonus episode the following week on Thursday, July 31. Based on the metadata for that image of Puck at the top of the post, Puck and Loki's team-up will come in Episode 8. Here's hoping that 12 episodes will be enough to do justice to this story.

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