‘Dead Boy Detectives’ Boss on Exploring Edwin’s Sexual Identity & Charles’ Role in That Journey

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Charles (Jayden Revri) and Edwin (George Rexstrew) would move heaven and earth and the entire underworld for each other. In Dead Boy Detectives, the duo spends their afterlife solving mysteries for the undead, but the love they have for each other is at the heart of the show.

Somewhere during their decades together, Edwin’s feelings for Charles started to shift. He develops romantic feelings for his best friend and eventually confesses his love after Charles rescues him from Hell.

Co-showrunner Steve Yockey tells TV Insider that the “goal” of the first season was always to “tell the story of Edwin’s discovery of his identity. And not just the discovery of his identity after 100 years of being dead, but 60 years of that spent in Hell.”

As you see in the first season, Edwin begins to recognize his sexual identity for the first time. Since Edwin lived during the Edwardian era, Yockey points out that being queer “just wasn’t an option.” He continues, “That was going to be the story, and because Charles is the person that he is, of course, Edwin’s going to fall in love with him and, of course, he’s going to handle it very well. The important thing to me was Edwin developing the bravery to confess his feelings, and Charles having the sort of confidence to accept those feelings and kind of be honest with his friend.”

While he doesn’t have the same romantic feelings as Edwin, Charles is honest with his friend about how much he does love him — just in a platonic way. “I think it says a lot for Charles and Edwin’s relationship because he accepts it with open arms, and there’s no weirdness after, and there’s no weirdness before, really. I think that is exactly how it should be,” Revri says.

Rexstrew adds, “That’s the thing. It’s a love story, and they do love each other, and the show is really an exploration of how that love manifests and what it looks like. And I don’t think it’s fully answered by the end, and I don’t think it actually has to be.” His co-star chimes in, “I don’t think it ever will be.”

For Rexstrew, the “beauty” of Dead Boy Detectives in addressing “queerness and attraction and sexuality” is that “labels don’t really exist.” He continues, “Neil Gaiman, he’s always pushed the boundaries when it comes to otherness and I feel really, really proud to be part of a show that takes it one step further.”

There’s plenty of love to go around in Dead Boy Detectives, both platonic and romantic. Crystal (Kassius Nelson) crosses paths with the Dead Boys after being possessed by a demon (and toxic ex). For most of her life, Crystal’s felt abandoned by the people she loves. Nelson admits that Crystal has always yearned to “find something to belong to” and “feel like people care about her and want her in this world and want her here and that she means something to someone somewhere.” In Charles, Edwin, and Niko (Yuyu Kitamura), Crystal finds what she’s searching for.

Dead Boy Detectives, Season 1, Streaming Now, Netflix