Dead Boy Detectives: DC’s Neil Gaiman-inspired series gets an April premiere date

Once set up at the Max streaming service, the TV series Dead Boy Detectives, which is based on characters Neil Gaiman created for DC Comics in the pages of The Sandman issue #25, is now calling Netflix its home, having moved away from Max last year because it “doesn’t fit with DC executives James Gunn and Peter Safran’s plans for the DCU.” Today, Variety was able to confirm that Netflix has set an April 25th premiere date for the show.

Since these characters were introduced in the comic book The Sandman, it seems fitting that they ended up on Netflix, as the streamer is also home to the live-action The Sandman series.

George Rexstrew, making his screen debut, and Jayden Revri of The Lodge play the title characters in Dead Boy Detectives. The third lead of the show will be Kassius Nelson of Last Night in Soho. The eight one-hour episodes of the series will follow the Dead Boy Detectives — Charles Rowland (Revri) and Edwin Paine (Rexstrew) — who decided not to enter the afterlife in order to stay on earth and investigate crimes involving the supernatural. They are joined by Crystal Palace (Nelson), a living psychic medium.

Also in the cast are Lukas Gage (Euphoria) as Thomas the Cat King, who can transform into a Siamese cat and is always happy to make a deal, but shouldn’t be trusted; Briana Cuoco (The Flight Attendant) as Jenny, described as a mildly punk butcher and a confidant of Crystal Palace; Jenn Lyon (Justified) as Esther, described as a witch obsessed with youth and immortality; Yuyu Kitamura (The Expatriates) as Niko, a boarding school student intent on joining the Dead Boy Detectives agency who now lives above Jenny’s butcher shop; Caitlin Reilly (Hacks) and Max Jenkins (Dead to Me) as Litty and Kingham, who are “tiny foul-mouthed dandelion sprites who are a rude annoyance to the Dead Boys,” and Ruth Connell (For the Love of George) as Night Nurse, a demon that controls the flow of souls in the afterlife.

Connell is a carry-over from Doom Patrol, as she previously played Night Nurse on that show. But Charles, Edwin, and Crystal were played by Sebastian Croft, Ty Tennant, and Madalyn Horcher on Doom Patrol.

The pilot for Dead Boy Detectives was written by Steve Yockey, who also serves as executive producer alongside Jeremy Carver and Berlanti Productions’ Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter, and David Madden. Yockey and Carver previously worked together on Supernatural. Yockey was co-showrunner on The Flight Attendant, while Carver was showrunner on Doom Patrol.

Netflix shared this official description of the show: Meet Edwin Payne (Rexstrew) and Charles Rowland (Revri), ‘the brains’ and ‘the brawn’ behind the Dead Boy Detectives agency. Teenagers born decades apart who find each other only in death, Edwin and Charles are best friends and ghosts… who solve mysteries. They will do anything to stick together – including escaping evil witches, Hell and Death herself. With the help of a clairvoyant named Crystal (Nelson) and her friend Niko (Kitamura), they are able to crack some of the mortal realm’s most mystifying paranormal cases.

Will you be watching Dead Boy Detectives when it starts streaming on Netflix in April? Let us know by leaving a comment below.