The Sandman‘s first season is now out, and it’s converting millions of Netflix viewers around the globe into devoted followers of Neil Gaiman’s seminal comic book universe. While these 10 episodes do a great job of welcoming fresh fans into the world of the Endless, however, there’s still much more to be explored in the many further seasons we hope the show receives, as the first run leaves several major questions unanswered by the time of its finale.
For starters, who is the mysterious “Prodigal” that the Endless keep talking about? The series follows Lord Morpheus (Tom Sturridge), the King of Dreams, as he returns to his realm, the Dreaming, after being imprisoned on Earth for a century. Across season one, we meet three more of the Endless — Death (Kirby Howell-Baptiste), Desire (Mason Alexander Park), and Despair (Donna Preston). Destiny and “poor Delirium” are also mentioned.
As there are seven Endless siblings, this leaves one more to be accounted for, the enigmatic “Prodigal.” But who is the Prodigal? Thankfully, the comics provide us an answer to that question.
The missing Endless sibling, explained
The so-called Prodigal is, in fact, Destruction. The fourth oldest of the Endless family — following Destiny, Death, and Dream — Destruction is, as his name suggests, the anthropomorphic personification of the destructive forces of the universe. While this may suggest that the character could have villainous leanings, like his younger sibling Desire and their twin, Despair, that’s actually far from the truth.
Much as in the TV show, what happened to Destruction is initially kept a secret in the comics, too, with his story only eventually being told in Brief Lives, the seventh volume of The Sandman series. This revealed that Destruction broke the code of the Endless by abandoning his duties some two hundred years before Dream’s incarceration in the 1700s.
His reason for doing so is because he foresaw that the increasing scientific and technological advances of humankind would only lead to greater destruction and he wanted no part in it. Despite, or because of, his role in the universe, Destruction actually possesses many creative and constructive passions, although it’s noted that he displays little talent for them.
In The Sandman, we see that each Endless has a gallery in their realm featuring the sigil of each of their siblings so they can visit and contact them. Destruction’s sigil is the sword, but it is not included in any of his siblings’ galleries as they shunned him when he disappeared.
Will we ever meet Destruction in the TV series?
Assuming that Netflix does the right thing and keeps on renewing The Sandman long enough for the show to adapt the entire 10-volume comics saga, then, yes, we should see Destruction in the TV series… Just not for some time yet.
In Brief Lives, Dream and Delirium — who was previously known as Delight before an unknown traumatic event caused them to change — embark on a road trip in order to search for their lost brother. In this arc, we finally find out what Destruction looks like. Specifically, he presents as a tall, burly red-headed Caucasian man, usually seen with a thick beard. Neil Gaiman has explained that he was intended to physically resemble the British actor Brian Blessed (Flash Gordon).
At this early stage, it’s unclear if the TV show could replicate Destruction’s look on the page or not. The production team likely won’t have to think about this challenge for a while yet. With season one adapting the first two volumes, Preludes & Nocturnes and The Doll’s House, we can speculate that the series won’t tackle Brief Lives until its fourth season. So if you want to find out about Destruction sooner than later, your best bet is in tracking down the comics rather than waiting for season two.
The Sandman is available to stream on Netflix. At the time of writing, a decision has yet to be made on a second season.