Netflix's The Sandman is back, and it's as good as ever. Despite being a largely condensed second season—wrapping up the entire saga in just 11 episodes—the team has managed to tell some of the comic's most popular stories.
There are many new characters introduced this time around, from Norse Gods to those of Faerie to the remaining entities that make up the Endless family. For the latter, we've been introduced to Destiny (Adrian Lester), Delirium (Esme Creed-Miles) and Destruction (Barry Sloane).
In the second half of Volume 1, Delirum seeks out Dream (Tom Sturridge) and convinces him to join her on a quest to find Destruction. Delirium is eccentric, surreal, and inherently chaotic. She's the youngest of the Endless siblings, and one of the most mysterious. Many years ago, she used to be Delight, but a change made her into Delirium. This change is one of the comic's biggest mysteries.
However, the show actually filmed a scene between Destruction and Delight, in which we see her transformation. "There was also a lovely scene that we shot, which didn't actually make the episode," Sloane told Entertainment Weekly. The scene in question saw Delight meeting Destruction atop a volcano. "She explains she's changing and she's afraid. He explains why change is important and inevitable and it's actually a good thing...And he's saying this as a village is killed by a volcano."
It's easy to see why this scene was deleted: it works better as a mystery. Plus, adding this scene goes directly against the source material. But if Netflix ever wants to release it, I'll still be watching out of curiosity.
While Destruction might seem like a cruel and malevolent entity, that isn't exactly the case. Don't judge an Endless by their name. In fact, Destruction abandoned his post after realizing that he was largely unneeded. He now lives as a recluse on an empty island with his talking dog Barnabas (Steve Coogan). He creates rather than destroys.
"Whilst he's got this very, very masculine, destructive force, he's really trying to enhance the feminine creativity in the world...struggling," Sloane shared with EW. "He's not the greatest painter or poet or anything, and he always ends up destructing things as is his nature, but he's got a cool soul. He'd be like a great '60s beat poet or something like that. I think he would've been friends with [Bob] Dylan, for sure."
Sloane has also landed a role in the upcoming third season of Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon. He plays Ser Adrian Redfort, a knight in the service of Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen.
As it turns out, this role was an absolute no-brainer for Sloane. "I was a fan of Game of Thrones anyway. So when the opportunity came round to be a part of this, I was like, 'Yes. Yes, please. I'd like a taste of that,'" he stated.
House of the Dragon season 3 is currently filming, while The Sandman season 2 volume 2 releases on Netflix this week on July 24.
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