Neil Gaiman’s ‘Dead Boy Detectives’ Series Moves to Netflix from Max
Dead Boy Detectives — a supernatural series set in the Sandman universe — officially moved from Max to Netflix. Neil Gaiman and Matt Wagner created the Dead Boy Detectives characters for DC.
Max originally ordered Dead Boy Detectives back in April 2022. According to Variety, the show did not mesh well with the new direction of Max-DC content overseen by James Gunn and Peter Safran. Since Netflix is already the home to the hit series The Sandman, it makes sense that the streamer snapped up Dead Boy Detectives.
The official description for the eight-episode series reads, “Do you have a pesky ghost haunting you? Has a demon stolen your core memories? You may want to ring the Dead Boy Detectives. Meet Edwin Payne (George Rexstrew) and Charles Rowland (Jayden Revri), ‘the brains’ and ‘the brawn’ behind the Dead Boy Detectives agency. Teenagers born decades apart who find each other only in death, Edwin and Charles are best friends and ghosts… who solve mysteries. They will do anything to stick together – including escaping evil witches, Hell and Death herself. With the help of a clairvoyant named Crystal (Kassius Nelson) and her friend Niko (Yuyu Kitamura), they are able to crack some of the mortal realm’s most mystifying paranormal cases.”
Neil Gaiman Identifies with Dead Boy Detectives‘ Charles
Tudum by Netflix details the origin of Dead Boy Detectives: “In Season of Mists, the fourth book of The Sandman comics series, Neil Gaiman penned a ghost story set in a British boarding school to demonstrate the problems being caused by Lucifer’s plan to get back at Dream. Gaiman liked the characters enough that he brought them back for a Vertigo Comics crossover event, and they wound up receiving their own spin-off comic from Toby Litt and Mark Buckingham.
“Now, the Dead Boy Detectives are receiving their own TV series from Steve Yockey and Beth Schwartz. Set in the same universe as The Sandman, this show follows all the zany thrills and heartwarming moments of Charles and Edwin’s adventures solving supernatural mysteries that no one else can.”
“Charles was more or less me as a boy,” executive producer and Sandman author Gaiman says to Tudum. “I loved writing him and Edwin, and was proud to send them out into the world. Who amongst us can honestly say that if we were hanging around the Earth as a ghost we wouldn’t want to start a detective agency? I think what fans responded to the most was their good-heartedness and dedication.”
Gaiman teases the appearance of at least one The Sandman character on Dead Boy Detectives. “[On Dead Boy Detectives,] they will encounter a member of the Endless,” says Gaiman. “But which one? Ah… you’ll need to watch it to find out.”
Robert DeSalvo is a professional writer and editor with over 25 years of experience at print and online publications such as Movieline, Playboy, PCH, Fandango, and The A.V. Club. He currently lives in Los Angeles, the setting of his favorite movie, Blade Runner. Robert has interviewed dozens of actors, directors, authors, musicians, and other celebrities during his journalism career, including Brian De Palma, Nicolas Cage, Dustin Hoffman, John Waters, Sigourney Weaver, Julianne Moore, Bryan Cranston, Anne Rice, and many more. Horror movies, sci-fi, cult films as well as gothic, postpunk, and synthwave music are what Robert geeks over.
