DC’s Dead Boy Detectives still has life at HBO Max — and it has found its latest star. On Thursday, a report from Variety revealed that the series has cast The White Lotus and Euphoria‘s Lukas Gage in a recurring role. Gage will be playing the Cat King, described as a charming trickster and itinerant cat spirit, who takes keen interest in Edwin.” The role was previously held by Alexander Calvert, in the latest instance of the series recasting. Dead Boy Detectives was first announced to be in the works last year, after different incarnations of the characters were showcased on a Season 3 episode of Doom Patrol. The characters originally debuted within the pages of The Sandman, and were created by Neil Gaiman and Matt Wagner.
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Dead Boy Detectives offers a fresh take on a ghost story that explores loss, grief, and death through the lens of Edwin Payne (newcomer George Rexstrew) and Charles Rowland (The Lodge‘s Jayden Revri), two dead British teenagers, and their very alive friend, Crystal Palace (Last Night in Soho‘s Kassius Nelson). Additional series stars include Briana Cuoco (The Flight Attendant, Harley Quinn) as Jenny the Butcher, Yuyu Kitamura (The Expatriates) as Niko, and Jenn Lyon (Claws, Justified) as Esther. Ruth Connell (Supernatural) also reprises her role as as the Night Nurse from the “Dead Patrol” episode of Doom Patrol.
The series is showrun by Doom Patrol and The Flight Attendant‘s Steve Yockey, who also wrote the pilot episode, which is directed by Superman & Lois‘ Lee Toland Krieger. Yockey, Jeremy Carver (Doom Patrol, Supernatural), Greg Berlanti (You, The Flash), and Sarah Schechter (The Flight Attendant, You) are executive producers on the series. The series is produced by Berlanti Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television.
“We are excited to be expanding further into the DC Universe with Steve, Jeremy and the Berlanti team with this thrilling new spin on a detective series,” Sarah Aubrey, Head of Original Content, HBO Max, said in a statement. “We were fascinated by the world of the Dead Boy Detectives that Steve and Jeremy first introduced in Doom Patrol, and cannot wait to follow the supernatural sleuths in the lurid mysteries to come.”
“I’ve been obsessed with this comic for a long time, so it’s a true passion project,” Yockey echoed. “And Jeremy, Berlanti Productions, DC, WBTV, HBO Max – they’re all encouraging me to run with every wild, bizarre, and unsettling choice. The result is going to be really dark fun.”
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