British Newcomers to Lead Netflix's 'The Sandman' Spin-Off 'Dead Boy Detectives'
Netflix's first entry in its expanded The Sandman universe is set to arrive this spring— but don't expect Tom Sturridge to pop up anywhere. Dead Boy Detectives may technically hail from the same universe as Dream of the Endless, but its story is very different. The eight-part series will follow the adventures of Edwin Payne and Charles Rowland, two ghosts and best friends who head the Dead Boy Detective Agency. Teenagers who were born decades apart and found one another in death, they have chosen to forgo an afterlife in the name of continued adventures together on Earth. Together with their (living) friend Crystal Palace, they investigate supernatural crimes of all sorts (and maybe do some good along the way.
The characters were initially introduced in the fourth volume of author Neil Gaiman's Sandman comics, titled "Season of Mists." Their story, set in a British boarding school, was meant to help illustrate the problems caused by Lucifer's decision to empty and abandon Hell. (Go with it, I promise it makes sense in the comic.) Gaiman liked the characters so much that he brought them back for a Vertigo Comics crossover event called Children's Crusade. The pair went on to get their own spin-off comic from writers Toby Litt and Mark Buckingham, which followed them as they investigated a mystery involving the corpses of homeless children washing up on the shores of the Thames.
In short, this is a Sandman spin-off that doesn't have much to do with the Dreaming, but the fantastical, distinctly supernatural vibes and dry, sarcastic humor will feel very familiar to fans of that work.
