Dead Boy Detectives season 2 gets a hopeful update from Sandman spinoff showrunners

Netflix's newest paranormal detective series, the Dead Boy Detectives showrunners Steve Yockey and Beth Schwartz disclosed to Deadline that discussions about the direction of season 2 have been positive.

In the article published on April 29, 2024, Beth Schwartz also confirmed that the season 1 finale of Dead Boy Detectives was deliberately designed to pave the way for future seasons. The series premiered all eight episodes on Thursday, April 25, 2024, and takes place in the same universe as The Sandman (2022).

Two characters from the latter series, the Endless siblings — Death and Despair, also appeared in this supernatural horror detective comedy-drama, establishing continuity between the two shows.

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Dead Boy Detectives showrunners provide season 2 update

In an interview with Deadline, the showrunners, Steve Yockey and Beth Schwartz discussed the potential for a second season of the spinoff from The Sandman. When asked about ideas for a potential second season, Steve Yockey stated:

"I think there’s not a limit that we found yet to how far we could go, but that’s very brash answer. I would say we’ve had some really, really good conversations about what a second season would look like."

He continued:

"The cool thing about the show is, because it has the overriding season arcs but also a case of the week, it has the kind of legs where it can just keep going. So we hope we get that opportunity."

Dead Boy Detectives season 1 saw George Rexstrew’s Edwin Paine and Jayden Revri’s Charles Rowland expanding the operations of their supernatural detective agency. Shedding more light on the first season's ending, Beth Schwartz added,

"We ended the season specifically to set up a Season 2, because all our characters are going back to London and the agency has expanded. Just all the fun and the new dynamics that we could explore in Season 2 would be really, really exciting for us."

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What is the series based on?

Based on the DC Comics characters of the same name by Neil Gaiman and Matt Wagner, the series followed Charles Rowland and Edwin Paine, who chose not to enter the afterlife and stayed on Earth to investigate crimes involving the supernatural.

Their first comic appearance was in Neil Gaiman's Sandman #25 during the Season of Mists storyline, published in December 1990. When Gaiman wrote for Vertigo's only crossover event, Children's Crusade, it was here that the author dubbed Charles Rowland and Edwin Paine the Dead Boy Detectives.

The story and characters provided a unique blend of paranormal sleuthing and youthful curiosity that captured readers' imaginations, leading to further exploration in following crossover events and other limited series runs.

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How The Sandman is connected to Dead Boy Detectives

The detective duo might cross paths with the protagonist of Netflix's other DC series, Tom Sturridge’s Dream of the Endless in season 2. The new Netflix show established this connection from the comics through the appearances of Kirby Howell-Baptiste’s Death and Donna Preston’s Despair.

Although the duo's comic book origins suggest a potential meeting, it's uncertain how closely Dead Boy Detectives and The Sandman, developed by David S. Goyer and Allan Heinbergwill, adhere to Gaiman’s original comics timelines as the comic arc involving Lucifer Morningstar emptying Hell of its residents hasn't occurred in the Netflix series yet.

The Sandman and the Dead Boy Detectives are available to stream on Netflix.