Neil Gaiman’s Dead Boy Detectives & Sandman Will Share the Same Universe

Dead Boy Detectives, a new series by Neil Gaiman, will be part of the same TV universe as Sandman.  

The show features Edwin Paine and Charles Rowland, two boys who died and became ghostly sleuths of supernatural mysteries. They first showed up in The Sandman comic book issue 25 by Neil Gaiman. They also appeared in Doom Patrol season 3 on TV, but different actors will play them in Dead Boy Detectives. 

Gaiman revealed in a tweet that The Sandman’s TV universe will include Dead Boy Detectives.  

A fan wanted to know if the show would belong to The Sandman universe, the Doom Patrol universe, or its own timeline. Gaiman’s tweet answered this question. Check out the tweet below – 

The series was first ordered by HBO Max in September 2021, but it moved to Netflix in February because it clashed with the new plans of James Gunn and Peter Safran for the DC Universe. The show finished filming on April 18, as announced by Steve Yockey, the showrunner and Doom Patrol writer.  

Gaiman is happy with how the series is going. Even though Dead Boy Detectives is not connected to Doom Patrol, some actors from the DC show will come back as their characters, like Ruth Connell who plays the Nightmare Nurse. 

Gaiman has many other projects going on besides Dead Boy Detectives and new Sandman episodes. The second season of Good Omens will come out this summer, but there are no trailers or exact dates yet. Another TV show based on Gaiman’s book Anansi Boys is also being made and will be on Prime Video, but there is no release date for it either. 

Dead Boy Detectives started out in The Sandman comics, so it makes sense that the show has switched from HBO to Netflix to be part of the same series. 

It’s not clear yet how the two shows will cross over, but The Sandman might hint at Dead Boy Detectives, which is likely to come out in 2024. The Sandman is very popular, so Dead Boy Detectives could also be a hit as another Gaiman TV show. 

About Dead Boy Detectives

Dead Boy Detectives is an upcoming HBO TV series based on the DC comics of the same name, created by Neil Gaiman.

As of yet, HBO Max has only ordered a one-hour pilot episode, filming to start in November 2022. No cast or director has been announced.

Steve Yockey will be writing the pilot episode and co-executively producing with Jeremy Carver. Warner Brothers serves as the studio.