Dead Boy Detectives: Neil Gaiman Offers Update on HBO Max Adaptation

Less than a year since HBO Max officially greenlit Dead Boy Detectives, co-author Neil Gaiman took to Twitter to share the first update about the upcoming horror drama.

Gaiman assured awaiting fans of the comic book series that the project is still moving forward, despite recent cancellations at the streamer. “It’s so good,” Gaiman responded to a fan, confirming that the series adaptation has already started filming.

Based on the DC characters created by Gaiman and Matt Wagner, The Dead Boy Detectives hails from executive producers Jeremy Carver (Doom Patrol) and Steve Yockey (The Flight Attendant). The 8-episode series will revolve around two ghost children named Charles Rowland and Edwin Paine, who refuse to enter the afterlife in order to stay on earth to investigate supernatural crimes. The characters first appeared in Gaiman’s The Sandman comics in 1991.

Leading the horror drama as the titular duo are George Rexstrew and Jayden Revri along with Kassius Nelson as Crystal Palace. Additional cast includes Briana Cuoco as Jenny the Butcher, Ruth Connell as the Night Nurse, Yuyu Kitamura as Niko, and Jenn Lyon as Esther.

The series will be “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,” per the logline. “So, it’s a lot like a vintage detective series – only darker and on acid.”

The Dead Boy Detectives series is written by Yockey, who also serves as the showrunner. Executive producers are Carver, Yockey, Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter, Lee Toland Krieger, and David Madden. It is a production by Berlanti Productions and Warner Bros. Television.