Dead Boy Detectives Showrunners Disucss Neil Gaiman's Involvement

Many of Neil Gamian's novels and comics have been adapted into television shows over the years, including DC Comics's The Sandman. The series made its debut on Netflix in 2022 and is expected to get a second season. But first, the show is getting a new spinoff, Dead Boy Detectives, which premieres on the streaming site next month. Gaiman is credited as an executive producer on the series, but he isn't writing episodes like he's done with his adaptations in the past. ComicBook.com recently attended a meet and greet with Dead Boy Detective showrunners, Steve Yockey and Beth Schwartz, and we asked about Gaiman's involvement with the series.

"He's been incredibly supportive," Yockey revealed. "I would say most of all he's just been a cheerleader, like, 'Yes, this is crazy. You can be even crazier,' which is good for us because we did not set any limits. But look, we set out to make the Hardy Boys on acid and I feel like that's what we did." 

"I'm quite proud of the fact that tonally, we've created our own thing, and as you go deeper into the season, it just gets darker and darker and darker and darker and more adult. So it's a lot of fun," he continued. 

"I think the most important thing is to not make an identical copy of the comic book because you will always fail," Schwartz, who also worked on other DC Comics adaptions like Arrow and Sweet Tooth, explained. "So I think it's taking the heart and why people fell in love with the comic in the first place and adapting that into screen form." 

What Is Dead Boy Detectives About?

You can read Netflix's description of the series here: "Do you have a pesky ghost haunting you? Has a demon stolen your core memories? You may want to ring the Dead Boy Detectives. Meet Edwin Payne (George Rexstrew) and Charles Rowland (Jayden Revri), "the brains" and "the brawn" behind the Dead Boy Detectives agency. Teenagers born decades apart who find each other only in death, Edwin and Charles are best friends and ghosts... who solve mysteries. They will do anything to stick together – including escaping evil witches, Hell and Death herself. With the help of a clairvoyant named Crystal (Kassius Nelson) and her friend Niko (Yuyu Kitamura), they are able to crack some of the mortal realm's most mystifying paranormal cases."

As part of The Sandman Universe for Netflix and based on the beloved comic series from Neil Gaiman, Dead Boy Detectives was developed for television by Steve Yockey, who wrote the first episode and serves as showrunner alongside Beth Schwartz as co-showrunner. Greg Berlanti, Yockey, Schwartz, Jeremy Carver, Sarah Schechter, Leigh London Redman and Gaiman serve as executive producers of the series from Berlanti Productions and Warner Bros. Television.

"I've been obsessed with this comic for a long time, so it's a true passion project," Yockey said when the project was first announced. "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."

Stay tuned for more updates about Dead Boy Detectives, which is expected to debut in April.