Dead Boy Detectives Adds Former Arrow Showrunner Beth Schwartz to Run HBO Max Series
Variety reports that Beth Schwartz, no stranger to not only leading a TV series but especially a DC Comics-based one, has been tapped to join the HBO Max Dead Boy Detectives show. According to the trade, Schwartz, having previously served as showrunner on Arrow for its final two seasons and co-showrunner on the first season of Netflix's Sweet Tooth. The site reports she'll serve as co-showrunner on Dead Boy Detectives, working alongside Steve Yockey who will be the other co-showrunner. HBO Max handed a series order to the comic adaptation earlier this year, giving it eight episodes in its first season.
Previously described as "a vintage detective series – only darker and on acid," the series based on the characters that first appeared in The Sandman and were created by Neil Gaiman and Matt Wagner. Though The Sandman will finally make his way into the live-action this year on Netflix, the two shows will be unrelated. There was even an attempted in the past year to spring the Dead Boy Detectives out of the successful DC/HBO Max series Doom Patrol. An entire backdoor pilot was produced and released, featuring different incarnations of the characters
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.
"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 when the show was announced. "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."
No official timeline for when Dead Boy Detectives will premiere has been announced but a 2023 seems likely considering hte fast track that the show has been put on by the streamer. What are you hoping to see in the show? Sound off in the comments below and let us know!