‘Dead Boy Detectives’ is canceled on Netflix. It only had one season, which began on April 25.
The show’s journey ended with its cancellation. It got a pilot order at Max in 2021, a series order in 2022, and was sold to Netflix in 2023. The sale happened because it didn’t fit with the new direction for Max-DC content led by James Gunn and Peter Safran.
On Netflix, the show was part of the ‘Sandman’ universe because the ‘Dead Boy Detectives’ first appeared in ‘The Sandman’ comic. Netflix airs ‘The Sandman’ TV series and has a second season coming soon.
George Rexstrew and Jayden Revri played the dead boys who became friends in the afterlife and solved supernatural mysteries. The cast also featured Kassius Nelson, Yuyu Kitamura, Jenn Lyon, Briana Cuoco, David Iacono, Lukas Gage, and Ruth Connell.
Steve Yockey created the series and worked as a co-showrunner and executive producer with Beth Schwartz. Greg Berlanti, Jeremy Carver, Sarah Schechter, Leigh London Redman, and Neil Gaiman were also executive producers.
The first episode was directed and produced by Lee Toland Krieger. Berlanti Productions and Warner Bros. Television worked together on the show. The show did well at first, staying in Netflix’s Top 10 English TV charts for three weeks.
It reached number two during the week of April 22-28 but had only 3.1 million views in its first three days. It dropped to number three the next week with 4.7 million views, then fell to 1.8 million views in the third week and disappeared from the Top 10.
The show was well-received by critics, getting a 92% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
