HBO Max has added another DC Comics series to its lineup. Last fall, the network ordered a Dead Boy Detectives pilot episode from a pretty stellar lineup of creators: Steve Yockey (co-showrunner of The Flight Attendant), Jeremy Carver (creator of Doom Patrol), and Greg Berlanti and Sarah Schechter of Berlanti Productions, who have a hand in many DC cookie jars.
And now, it’s official: Dead Boy Detectives has been picked up as an eight-episode series, and the cast is set.
The dead boys are a pair of ghostly children, Charles Rowland and Edwin Paine, who opt not to continue to the afterlife, choosing instead to stick around on Earth and investigate supernatural crimes. Their first appearance was in The Sandman, written by Gaiman and with art by Matt Wagner, though they’ve appeared in other comics and had their own Vertigo series for a bit. The characters appeared on Doom Patrol, but will be played by different actors in this new show.
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HBO Max describes the series like this: “It’s a fresh take on a ghost story that explores loss, grief, and death through the lens of Edwin Payne and Charles Rowland, two dead British teenagers, and their very alive friend, Crystal Palace. So, it’s a lot like a vintage detective series—only darker and on acid.”
George Rexstrew stars as Edwin; Jayden Revri (Fate: The Winx Saga) as Charles Rowland; and Kassius Nelson (A Series of Unfortunate Events) is their dramatically named friend, Crystal Palace. The cast also includes Ruth Connell as the Night Nurse (a role she also played on Doom Patrol), Briana Cuoco (Harley Quinn) as Jenny the Butcher, Jenn Lyon (Justified) as Esther, and Yuyu Kitamura as Niko.
Yockey (who also produced and wrote for Supernatural) is the series’ showrunner; he also wrote the pilot episode. Carver, Berlanti, and Schechter are executive producers; Lee Toland Krieger (Shadow and Bone) directed and executive produced the pilot episode—which one key person has already seen, and really likes.
I’ve seen the pilot and it’s really, really good.
— Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) April 15, 2022
No premiere date has been announced.
