‘Dead Boy Detectives’ Series a Go at HBO Max
HBO Max is officially on the case with Dead Boy Detectives.
The streamer has given a series order to the project, which is based on a DC comic by Neil Gaiman and Matt Wagner. The Flight Attendant creator Steve Yockey adapted the comic and will serve as showrunner on the series from Warner Bros. TV and Berlanti Productions.
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George Rexstrew and Jayden Revri play the title characters, dead British teenagers Edwin Payne and Charles Rowland. Per the series logline, Dead Boy Detectives is “a fresh take on a ghost story that explores loss, grief, and death through the lens of Edwin Payne and Charles Rowland…and their very alive friend, Crystal Palace. It’s a lot like a vintage detective series — only darker and on acid.”
Kassius Nelson (Last Night in Soho) plays Crystal; the series also stars Briana Cuoco, Ruth Connell — who reprises her role as Night Nurse (HBO Max’s Doom Patrol), Yuyu Kitamura and Jenn Lyon.
“We are excited to be expanding further into the DC Universe with Steve, Jeremy [Carver] and the Berlanti team with this thrilling new spin on a detective series,” said Sarah Aubrey, HBO Max’s head of original content. “We were fascinated by the world of the Dead Boy Detectives that Steve and Jeremy first introduced in Doom Patrol and cannot wait to follow the supernatural sleuths in the lurid mysteries to come.”
Said Yockey, “I’ve been obsessed with this comic for a long time, so it’s a true passion project. 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.”
Dead Boy Detectives is the second collaboration between Yockey and Berlanti Productions, which also produces The Flight Attendant. Yockey and Carver (Supernatural, Doom Patrol) executive produce with Berlanti Productions’ Greg Berlanti and Sarah Schechter. Lee Toland Krieger directed and exec produced the pilot episode; former Berlanti Productions president David Madden is also an EP on the pilot.
Yockey, Carver, Berlanti Productions and Krieger all have overall deals at Warner Bros. TV.
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