‘Dead Boy Detectives’ canceled after one season on Netflix
“Dead Boy Detectives” has been canceled at Netflix. The series aired its only season on the streamer on April 25.
Thus ends the show’s winding path to the screen. It originally received a pilot order with Max in 2021 and then a series order with that streamer in 2022 before being sold to Netflix in 2023. At the time, it was reported that the sale occurred because the show, which is based on characters created for DC by Neil Gaiman and Matt Wagner, did not fit into the new direction for Max-DC content spearheaded by James Gunn and Peter Safran.
At Netflix, it was part of the ‘Sandman’ universe, as the Dead Boy Detectives were first introduced in an issue of the comic book ‘The Sandman’. Netflix is currently airing the TV series “The Sandman,” with a second season on the way.
George Rexstrew and Jayden Revri starred as the titular dead boys, who became friends in the afterlife and worked together to solve supernatural mysteries. The cast also included Kassius Nelson, Yuyu Kitamura, Jenn Lyon, Briana Cuoco, David Iacono, Lukas Gage and Ruth Connell.
Steve Yockey developed the series for television. Yockey also served as co-showrunner and executive producer alongside Beth Schwartz. Greg Berlanti, Jeremy Carver, Sarah Schechter, Leigh London Redman and Gaiman also served as executive producers of the series. The first episode was directed and produced by Lee Toland Krieger. Berlanti Productions produces in association with Warner Bros. Television, where Berlanti Productions has an overall agreement.
The show opened well, relatively speaking, and stayed in the Netflix Top 10 English TV charts for three weeks after its release. It peaked at second place the week of April 22–28, but only generated 3.1 million views in its first three days of availability (Netflix defines a view as the total running time of a series divided by the total hours watched) . It dropped to number three in its first full week of availability, but rose to 4.7 million views overall. It then dropped to just 1.8 million views in week three before falling out of the Top 10 chart.
However, the show fared well with critics, with an average critical approval rating of 92% on Rotten Tomatoes.
