Who is the Prodigal in The Sandman?

Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman comics were published from the late ’80s into the ’90s, and ever since, fans have wanted a good screen adaptation. They finally got one with The Sandman on Netflix. The first season adapts the first two volumes in the story, ‘Preludes and Nocturnes’ and ‘The Doll’s House.’ But there are eight more volumes to go and I want to see all of them.

The Sandman is already laying the groundwork for future seasons. The first season ends with a cliffhanger involving Lucifer getting revenge on Dream, which sets up the conflict in Volume 4, ‘Season of Mists.’ Also, a few characters mention someone named “the Prodigal.” When we first meet Despair, she asks Desire if the Prodigal has returned, and Desire says that he’s still missing. Later, Dream asks Death if there’s any word on the Prodigal, and she says there isn’t.

So who is the Prodigal, and will he appear on the show?

Will the Prodigal appear on The Sandman?

If you’ve read The Sandman comics, you know exactly who the Prodigal is. He’s another member of the Endless, the group of eternal siblings at the center of this show. We’ve already met Dream, Death, Desire and Despair. If the show gets a second season, we’ll also meet Destiny and Delirium.

And then there’s the Prodigal. For millennia uncounted, he served as Destruction, but he abandoned his duties and walked away from his responsibilities for reasons we won’t spoil here; all of it is laid out in the seventh volume of The Sandman, ‘Brief Lives.’ He was also the peacemaker among the siblings, credited with keeping friction between them at a minimum. Despair misses him a lot, as you may have picked up on. Delirium, who we haven’t met yet, also misses him. Desire doesn’t like him, so you know Destruction is a good guy.

If the show goes on, we’ll definitely meet the Prodigal, since he plays a prominent in some of the big events of the story. In fact, Neil Gaiman is currently on the lookout for people who could play him. “Right now, what we’re doing is every time I think of or run into or pass or notice an actor who could be either a Destruction or a Delirium, [producer Allan Heinberg] gets an email,” he said recently.

Now all that’s left is for Netflix to order more seasons of the show. If you would, Netflix…

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