‘Dead Boy Detectives’: Neil Gaiman DC Comic Gets Series Order at HBO Max

Dead Boy Detectives
Courtesy of DC

DC Comics’ Dead Boy Detectives is coming to HBO Max. The streaming service has given Warner Bros. Television’s Dead Boy Detectives a series order after green-lighting the pilot in September 2021. The comic was created by Neil Gaiman and Matt Wagner.

The debut season of Dead Boy Detectives will consist of eight episodes and star George Rexstrew as Edwin Payne and Jayden Revri (Fate: The Winx Saga) as Charles Rowland, according to Variety. And Kassius Nelson (Last Night in Soho, White Lines) will star as Crystal Palace.

Edwin and Charles are two dead British teenagers who rejected entry into the afterlife so they could investigate supernatural crimes on Earth. Their friend, Crystal Palace, is very much alive in this ghost story exploring the themes of “loss, grief, and death.”

Also in the cast are Briana Cuoco (The Flight Attendant) as Jenny the Butcher, Ruth Connell as the Night Nurse (a reprisal of her role in an episode of HBO Max’s Doom Patrol), Yuyu Kitamura as Niko, and Jenn Lyon (ClawsSaint GeorgeJustified) as Esther. The Flight Attendant‘s Steve Yockey serves as showrunner and wrote the Dead Boy Detectives pilot.

“I’ve been obsessed with this comic for a long time, so it’s a true passion project,” Yockey said in a statement. “And Jeremy, Berlanti Productions, DC, WBTV, HBO Max — they’re all encouraging me to run with every wild, bizarre, and unsettling choice. The result is going to be really dark fun.”

Yockey also executive produces with Jeremy Carver, and Greg Berlanti and Sarah Schechter for Berlanti Productions. Lee Toland Krieger directed and executive produced the pilot episode, on which David Madden also executive produced.

The series is developed by Warner Bros. Television, and Yockey, Carver, Krieger, and Berlanti Productions all have overall deals with WBTV.

Dead Boy Detectives, Series Premiere, TBA, HBO Max