Dead Boy Detectives, a supernatural mystery series part of The Sandman Universe at Netflix, has been canceled after one season. Or in other words: Dead Boy Detectives is dead, boys.
The news was announced on August 30 via Variety, four months after the eight-episode season dropped on Netflix on April 25. While no specific reason was given for the cancellation, the series did have a circuitous path to landing on Netflix in the first place, which may be part of the reason it was a tricky pickup for Season 2.
Specifically, Dead Boy Detectives, based on the DC Comics of the same name, was originally planned as a back-door pilot (of sorts) in September 2021, spinning out of Doom Patrol on Max (at the time called HBO Max). The series was greenlit for Max in April 2022 under showrunner Steve Yockey. Despite being nearly finished with filming, due to the changing priorities for Warner Bros. Discovery, as well as the DC Universe shows under new DC Studios heads James Gunn and Peter Safran, Max decided not to go forward with the series. By November 2023 it was sold to Netflix and officially made part of the Sandman Universe — ostensibly functioning as Season 1.5 of the fellow DC/Netflix series.
While a second season of Sandman is on the way, it may be important to note that was not a done deal even with solid (though not overwhelmingly spectacular) streaming numbers and reviews. Add in that the show is produced by Warner Bros. Discovery, versus Netflix itself, and there are a lot of moving parts involved there.
Dead Boy Detectives did nowhere near as well as Sandman. Despite some positive spin from Variety, it only reached number two in viewership on Netflix’s self-provided charts, with 3.1 million views in its first three days of availability. The following weeks were 4.7 million views, then 1.8 million views before it fell off the charts entirely.
The reviews were generally positive, and the show certainly has its fans (I would count myself among them). But with the de facto mothership show touch and go for a pickup, Dead Boy Detectives was dead on arrival. So no Season 2 for Dead Boy Detectives. And perhaps no Season 3 for The Sandman, though that’s TBD. The good news is, the comic books are still there for you to read any time you want!
Dead Boy Detectives starred George Rexstrew and Jayden Revri as the titular detectives, alongside Kassius Nelson, Yuyu Kitamura, Jenn Lyon, Briana Cuoco, David Iacono, Lukas Gage, and Ruth Connell.
