“Dead Boy Detectives” is a new supernatural – horror series that is streaming on Netflix and is part of the “Sandman Universe”.
So let’s dive into some trivia and facts about the series.
- Dead Boy Detectives is an American supernatural horror detective comedy-drama television series
- The series is developed by Steve Yockey
- It is based on the DC Comics characters of the same name
- The were created by Neil Gaiman and Matt Wagner
- The series premiered on Netflix on April 25, 2024
- The series follows Charles Rowland and Edwin Paine
- They decided not to enter the afterlife and instead stay on Earth to investigate crimes that involve the supernatural
- The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 91% approval rating
- With an average rating of 7.3/10
- Based on 32 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 assigned a score of 65 out of 100
- Based on 19 critics
- Indicating “generally favorable reviews”
- 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. did not allow them to use elements from that series when Dead Boy Detectives was still an HBO Max project
- This 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
- 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 Howell-Baptiste was revealed to be reprising her Sandman role as Death
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