Barry Sloane (Destruction) teases The Prodigal's return in The Sandman season 2

The Prodigal returns! The Sandman season 2 newcomer Barry Sloane teases Destruction's key role in the new season.
NBC And Vanity Fair's Celebration Of The Season
NBC And Vanity Fair's Celebration Of The Season / Tibrina Hobson/GettyImages
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The Sandman season 2 has been in production since November 2023, following myriad delays brought on by stuff like the writers' and actors' strikes. It's been a long and rocky road, but the show is currently in the final stages of production, filming the final two episodes of the season. It's gonna be a good season too, with the show covering some of the comic's most beloved stories. Newcomer Barry Sloane (Destruction) is already rhapsodizing about his role.

Destruction, also known as The Prodigal, is the fourth eldest of the Endless, the eternal siblings at the heart of the story. However, unlike his brothers and sisters, Destruction defected from his post after realizing that the job wasn't for him anymore. As the being in charge of destruction and creation, he began to despair over humanity's increasing ability to destroy things. In The Sandman comics by Neil Gaiman, he lives in the remote countryside with his dog Barnabas (voiced by comedy legend Steve Coogan), and has taken to painting.

In the words of Barry Sloane himself, to Deadline: “The Prodigal is Destruction." He got the nickname because "because in the first season he has abandoned his post and left. Now he’s returned.”

While Destruction is... well, destructive... he is also the antithesis of his nature. In The Sandman, he enjoys a quiet life. “They are the yin and the yang," Sloane explained. "They are Destruction and Creation. It’s kind of like, he can blow things up, but also wants to paint...And Steve Coogan plays Barnabas, my dog. So it’s me and Steve having these, just talking to a dog, kind of conversations."

The Sandman season 2 is likely to be released in two parts

The Deadline article also gives us some clarity on the structure of season 2. We know that there are 12 episodes covering multiple volumes of the comic, including Season of Mists and Brief Lives, but we don't know much else, other than that scenes from the penultimate volume of the comic, The Kindly Ones, are strangely being filmed.

The article suggests that the season will be split up into two segments (like Netflix did with Bridgerton) and that the first batch of episodes will most likely air in early 2025.

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