Dead Boy Detectives: How Will Series Cancellation Affect The Sandman?

The DC spinoff is not returning for Season 2.

By Jenna Anderson

The world of DC television got a disappointing update on Friday, with confirmation that Netflix has cancelled Dead Boy Detectives after only one season. The live-action Netflix series has had a long and winding road to hitting the small screen, starting out as a spinoff to Max's Doom Patrol series before switching casts and streaming services. As fans mourn the loss of Dead Boy Detectives and its roster of lovable characters, one question has already begun to present itself — will the cancellation have any impact on the show's sister series, The Sandman?

For the uninitiated, the comic concept of Dead Boy Detectives spun out of the original run of The Sandman, as the "Season of Mists" arc introduced the two titular protagonists who decide to forego the afterlife and solve mysteries together as ghosts. The Dead Boy Detectives have ebbed and flowed in and out of The Sandman's orbit in the years since, but have particularly been connected to Death, the member of The Endless who has interacted most with the boys. Netflix's television adaptation of Dead Boy Detectives leaned into this connection as well, having The Sandman's incarnations of Death (played by Kirby) and Despair (played by Donna Preston) cameo in Season 1. 

That being said, Dead Boy Detectives was always billed as accessible to viewers who had not seen The Sandman, and the series' are largely unconnected on a narrative level. While the sophomore season of The Sandman is still a bit of a ways away, and a lot of plot details remain under wraps, casting details for Season 2 have hinted at "Season of Mists" being adapted in some capacity. The story arc, which chronicles a massive conflict between various deities over the control of Hell, is already jam-packed with new characters including Thor (Laurence O'Fuarian), Loki (Freddie Fox), and Odin (Clive Russell). The Dead Boy Detectives' debut issue, The Sandman #25, is largely presented as an interlude to the arc's larger conflict, and a smaller-scale way to show the impact of these changes to Hell. 

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With that in mind, there is a chance that "Season of Mists" could be brought to life in The Sandman Season 2 without needing the Dead Boy Detectives to appear in it, especially since they have already been established in their own series. There is also a chance that the cast of the Netflix series could cameo in The Sandman Season 2 anyway, as production on the episodes began long before Dead Boy Detectives even premiered. Either way, there's a chance that The Sandman series could still endure for future seasons even after Dead Boy Detectives' cancellation, something that not only wouldn't be out of the ordinary for genre shows of its kind, but would be possible given the massive streaming success of Season 1.

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

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