HBO Max Orders Neil Gaiman’s DEAD BOY DETECTIVES Series

HBO Max has ordered the Max Original DC drama DEAD BOY DETECTIVES to series. From Emmy® nominee Steve Yockey (“The Flight Attendant”), “Doom Patrol’s” Jeremy Carver, Berlanti Productions, and Warner Bros. Television, DEAD BOY DETECTIVES is an eight-episode horror detective series born from DC’s “The Sandman” and “Dead Boy Detectives” comics. 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.

“I’ve been obsessed with this comic for a long time, so it’s a true passion project,” shared Yockey. “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 wrote the pilot episode and serves as showrunner. He’ll also executive produce the series with Jeremy Carver (Doom Patrol, Supernatural), Greg Berlanti (You, The Flash), and Sarah Schechter (The Flight Attendant, You). Lee Toland Krieger (Superman & Lois, upcoming Green Lantern) directed the pilot episode and also served as an executive producer on the pilot alongside David Madden (Superman & Lois). Dead Boy Detectives is based on characters created for DC by Neil Gaiman and Matt Wagner and is produced by Berlanti Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television.

George Rexstrew and Jayden Revri (The Lodge) star in the lead roles for Edwin Payne (Rexstrew) and Charles Rowland (Revri), and Kassius Nelson (Last Night in Soho, Hollyoaks) will take on the role of Crystal Palace. In addition, the series will star Briana Cuoco (The Flight Attendant, Harley Quinn) as Jenny the Butcher, Ruth Connell (Supernatural) as the Night Nurse (reprising her role from the “Dead Patrol” episode of Doom Patrol), Yuyu Kitamura (The Expatriates) as Niko, and Jenn Lyon (Claws, Justified) as Esther.

As mentioned, the Dead Boy Detectives first appeared in Gaiman’s classic fantasy series, The Sandman (which itself will soon make its TV debut on Netflix), where they served as a supernatural throwback to classic boy detective fiction. They later returned in both comic miniseries and one-shots, and a twelve-issue ongoing series in 2014. It was in this later series that the character of Crystal Palace first debuted. The Dead Boy Detectives also appeared in an episode of Doom Patrol last season played by actors Sebastian Croft, Ty Tennant and Madalyn Horcher.

Dead Boy Detectives will join a pretty robust slate of DCTV series on HBO Max, including Doom Patrol, Titans, Peacemaker, Pennyworth, Harley Quinn, Young Justice and the recently announced Penguin series starring Colin Farrell.