Dead Boy Detectives (TV series)

Dead Boy Detectives is an American supernatural horror detective comedy-drama television series developed by Steve Yockey based on the DC Comics characters of the same name by Neil Gaiman and Matt Wagner. The series stars George Rexstrew, Jayden Revri, Kassius Nelson, Briana Cuoco, Ruth Connell, Yuyu Kitamura and Jenn Lyon, and follows Charles Rowland and Edwin Payne, who decided not to enter the afterlife and instead stay on Earth to investigate crimes that involve the supernatural.

Plans for a television series began in September 2021, when a pilot was ordered by HBO Max for a TV series based on Gaiman's Dead Boy Detectives comics. The series was given greenlight by April 2022. However, it was moved to Netflix in February 2023. Gaiman later confirmed the series would be set in the same continuity as The Sandman, with Kirby set to reprise her role as Death in the series.

Dead Boy Detectives premiered on Netflix on April 25, 2024. The series received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised its writing, directing and tone, as well as the performances of the cast and visuals.

Premise
The series follows the ghosts of Charles Rowland and Edwin Payne, who decided not to enter the afterlife and instead stayed on Earth to investigate crimes involving the supernatural.

Main

 * George Rexstrew as Edwin Payne, a ghost detective who was killed in 1916 when his classmates performed a sacrifice ritual as a prank, only to inadvertently summon a demon who took him to Hell
 * Jayden Revri as Charles Rowland, Edwin's partner at the Agency who died in 1989 from hypothermia and internal bleeding after his classmates turned on him when he defended a Pakistani boy who was being bullied
 * Kassius Nelson as Crystal Palace, a psychic medium who can see and communicate with ghosts
 * Briana Cuoco as Jenny Green, owner of the Tongue & Tail butcher shop. She rents out the upstairs rooms to Crystal and Niko
 * Ruth Connell as Night Nurse, the being who runs the Afterlife's Lost and Found Department, handling misplaced dead children. Connell previously played the role of the Night Nurse in the Doom Patrol episode "Dead Patrol" – the first TV appearance of the Dead Boy Detectives
 * Yuyu Kitamura as Niko Sasaki, a young girl and anime fan who lives across the hall from Crystal. She becomes able to see ghosts after a near-death experience
 * Jenn Lyon as Esther Finch, an immortal witch living in Port Townsend who seeks revenge against the Dead Boy Detectives

Recurring

 * David Iacono as David the Demon, a demon who previously possessed Crystal and now stalks her
 * Lukas Gage as the Cat King, a magical cat able to take on human form, who puts a spell on Edwin that prevents him from leaving Port Townsend
 * Michael Beach as Tragic Mick, a walrus cursed into human form who runs a shop selling magical artifacts
 * Joshua Colley as Monty, Esther's crow familiar, whom she transforms into a teenage boy
 * Max Jenkins as Kingham, one of two Dandelion Sprites who once possessed Niko. It is now kept in an enchanted jar.
 * Caitlin Reilly as Litty, the other Dandelion Sprite
 * Lindsey Gort as Maxine, a librarian at the Port Townsend Public Library

Notable guest stars

 * Sherri Saum as Maddy Surname, Crystal's wealthy but absent mother. She works at the British Museum.
 * Gabriel Drake as Simon, one of Edwin's classmates
 * John Brotherton as Seth von Hoverkraft, Crystal's wealthy but absent father, who also works at the British Museum
 * Tamlyn Tomita as The Principal, the Night Nurse's superior at the Afterlife's Lost and Found Department

Appearing from The Sandman
The following actors reprise their roles from The Sandman:


 * Kirby as Death, a member of the Endless that the Dead Boy Detectives work to evade
 * Donna Preston as Despair, a member of the Endless whom Edwin encounters in Hell

Development
On September 3, 2021, Variety reported that HBO Max ordered a pilot for a potential Dead Boy Detectives series, then-intended as a spin-off of Doom Patrol, with Steve Yockey as writer and executive-producer alongside Jeremy Carver, Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter, and David Madden. On April 14, 2022, HBO Max gave the production a series order, with Yockey set as showrunner; Beth Schwartz was attached as co-showrunner that September. By February 24, 2023, the project was moved from HBO Max to Netflix, reportedly due to being incompatible with DC Studios co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran's plans to have HBO Max's DC shows be set in the DC Universe, as well as due to HBO Max's inability to air the series before 2024.

On April 20, 2023, Neil Gaiman confirmed the series would be set in the same universe as The Sandman; Gaiman was announced as an additional executive-producer that November. While the producers had always planned for the series to be set in the same universe as The Sandman, which aired on Netflix, Warner Bros. (parent of HBO Max, DC Comics Studios and Dead Boy Detectives publisher Vertigo Comics) did not allow them to use elements from that series when Dead Boy Detectives was still an HBO Max project, to avoid licensing issues with Netflix. As such, the showrunners instead included broad connections between both shows that still established them as part of the same continuity while only "lightly tipto[ing] around and through the Sandman universe". After the project moved to Netflix, the showrunners incorporated characters and more overt connection to The Sandman at the behest of both Netflix and Sandman showrunner Allan Heinberg. Dead Boy Detectives was released on Netflix on April 25, 2024.

Casting
In November 2021, George Rexstrew, Jayden Revri, Kassius Nelson, Alexander Calvert, Briana Cuoco, Ruth Connell, Yuyu Kitamura, and Jenn Lyon were cast. Lukas Gage replaced Calvert in September 2022. In October 2022, Michael Beach, Joshua Colley, and Lindsey Gort joined the cast in recurring capacities. A month later, Caitlin Reilly, Max Jenkins, and David Iacono were cast. In April 2024, Kirby said she would be reprising her Sandman role as Death; Kirby joined the cast for a cameo in the pilot following the series' move to Netflix, with the original iteration having Death appear offscreen due to licensing issues.

Filming
The pilot episode was filmed between December 2021 and January 2022, with Lee Toland Krieger directing and executive-producing. Filming for the series began on November 7, 2022, in Langley, British Columbia, and concluded on April 5, 2023.

Reception
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports a 92% approval rating with an average rating of 7.5/10, based on 50 critic reviews. The website's critics' consensus reads, "Dead Boy Detectives expands the Sandman universe with an addictively entertaining paranormal fantasy with excitement, romance, and young adult angst to spare." Metacritic assigns a score of 65 out of 100 based on 19 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Dead Boy Detectives debuted at number two on Netflix's Top 10 TV English titles for the tracking week of April 22–28, 2024, with 22.2 million hours viewed. On the following week, it ranked at number three and garnered 34.1 million viewing hours. On its third week, the series fell to number seven, earning 13.3 million viewing hours.