.png){kind=logo}
Neil Gaiman, the author of the upcoming HBO Max series Dead Boy Detectives, has provided an interesting filming update.
Neil Gaiman has provided an interesting filming update for HBO Max's upcoming Dead Boy Detectives. Edwin Paine and Charles Rowland, the Dead Boy Detectives, are fictitious characters that originally appeared in Neil Gaiman's comic The Sandman No. 25. Paine and Rowland first debuted in Doom Patrol season 3 in 2021, with Paine played by Heartstopper actor Sebastian Croft and Rowland played by Ty Tennant. HBO Max ordered a prospective Dead Boy Detectives series in September 2021, and updates on the project were offered intermittently throughout the next year. Currently, there is no confirmed release date for Dead Boy Detectives.
In a post to Twitter from Gaiman, the author has confirmed that Dead Boy Detectives is still happening at HBO Max, amidst both HBO and DC scrapping several major projects over the past several months.
Everything We Know About Dead Boy Detectives
While the Dead Boy Detectives didn't start out with a comic of their own, the characters reappeared in several of Gaiman's works, including the Children's Crusade crossovers, in several The Books of Magic stories, and in Death: At Death's Door. In 2001, the Dead Boy Detectives received their own miniseries of comics entitled Sandman Presents: Dead Boy Detectives. The premise of the Dead Boy Detectives revolves around young boys Rowland and Paine who, after meeting untimely deaths, choose to stay on Earth rather than going into the afterlife, so that they can solve paranormal crimes.
Though the Dead Boy Detectives appeared in Doom Patrol season 3 for a singular episode, and the Dead Boy Detectives series was ordered shortly thereafter, it has since been confirmed that the Doom Patrol casting will not carry on into the new series. Instead, Rowland will be played by Jayden Revri, and Paine will be played by George Rexstrew. Though it remains unclear if the series will have any ties to Doom Patrol, such actors as Ruth Connell have already been confirmed to reprise their Doom Patrol roles in Dead Boy Detectives. The series will run for eight episodes on HBO Max, with Supernatural writers Steve Yockey and Jeremy Carver executive producing.
As Dead Boy Detectives is currently filming, it may still be some time before Gaiman's series is released on the streaming service. And, with both HBO and DC having recently axed many projects, there is still some concern among fans that the series may be even farther off than previously anticipated. But with Gaiman's reassurance, and confirmation that filming is underway, Sandman and Doom Patrol fans alike finally have another Gaiman project to look forward to in Dead Boy Detectives.
