Nearly two years after The Sandman premiered on Netflix, the fantastical universe has been expanded with its first spin-off, Dead Boy Detectives. Based on the comics by Neil Gaiman, the new series follows Edwin Payne (George Rexstrew) and Charles Rowland (Jayden Revri), a pair of ghost BFFs who solve mysteries on behalf of spirits with unfinished business on Earth, all while evading Death (Kirby Howell-Baptiste) before she can drag them to the afterlife. With the help of psychic Crystal Palace (Kassius Nelson) and their new friend Niko Sasaki (Yuyu Kitamura), the teen detectives must face their own demons—metaphorical and literal—in order to stay together and continue doing good for souls who are stuck in limbo.
The series that premiered on April 25 balances fun, coming-of-age antics and a lovely friendship at its helm with the fantasy-horror elements that have become a trademark of Netflix's Sandman-verse. Throughout the season, the foursome face everything from a petty witch out for revenge to jock ghosts that may not be the "nice guys" they first appear to be to making a desperate dash to break Edwin out of Hell.
Upon finishing the eight-episode debut season, many fans will wonder what's next for the Dead Boy Detective Agency. Below, we've gathered everything we know about a possible Dead Boy Detectives season 2, including the odds of whether Edwin and Charles will pop up in The Sandman season 2.
How does 'Dead Boy Detectives' season 1 end?
The first season of Dead Boy Detectives has a sort of double ending, as Edwin and Charles deal with unfinished business in both the afterlife and the sleepy town of Port Townsend. After saving Edwin from Hell and holding off the Night Nurse (Ruth Connell) with a bit of paperwork in episode 7, Esther the witch (Jenn Lyon) kidnaps the two sleuths and hooks Edwin up to a torture machine that siphons off his anguish to feed her power.
With a little intel from Tragic Mick (Michael Beach), Crystal is able to invoke the wrath of Lilith (like the Biblical figure Lilith, who first gave Esther immortality). Esther is dragged into Lilith's realm, but the victory is paired with tragedy, as Niko dies in the fight.
After mourning Niko, Crystal—who regains her memories and realizes she was a manipulative kleptomaniac before she was possessed by David the Demon—decides to head back to London to pick up the pieces of her life. Edwin and Charles join her, and officially invite her to join the detective agency, which she accepts.
Once Edwin and Charles are back in their London office, their first visitors are Night Nurse and her supervisor (Tamlyn Tomita). However, instead of dragging them back to the Lost and Found Department, the supervisor realizes that the work of the Dead Boy Detective Agency helps the office deal with the overflow of ghosts. She appoints Night Nurse as the pair's chaperone to work with them on Earth, adding, “You never know when the good you do may come back around."
Despite the pleasant conclusion for the detectives, the final scene of the season sets up a major cliffhanger. Just before the finale ends, it cuts to an igloo under the Northern Lights where a group of people wait out a blizzard—including the Sprites, played by Max Jenkins and Caitlin Reilly, who disappeared after Niko was killed. A third person, whose identity remains hidden, is also present and leads us to believe the events of the final episode were more complicated than they seemed. Once one of the Sprites asks, "So, what now?" the unknown figure opens their hand to reveal a soapstone polar bear—indicating Niko may not be dead after all.
Has 'Dead Boy Detectives' been renewed for season 2?
Not quite yet. The series premiered on April 25 and Netflix tends to wait for at least a month of ratings before announcing the fate of new title. (Even The Sandman season 2 wasn't greenlit until three months after its August 2022 premiere date.) There may be a bit of a wait, but hopefully Dead Boy Detectives will find enough of a fanbase for Netflix to say yes to new cases.
Who in the cast would return for 'Dead Boy Detectives' season 2?
After that ending, it appears as though a handful of cast members are near-guaranteed to return, including George Rexstrew (Edwin), Jayden Revri (Charles), Kassius Nelson (Crystal), and Ruth Connell (Night Nurse).
Though most of the Port Townsend characters introduced this season were a delight to watch (perhaps aside from David and his sadistic ways), their returns will depend on whether they'll make the trip from Washington State to London, or vice versa. These actors include Briana Cuoco (Jenny), Lukas Gage (Cat King), Michael Beach, (Tragic Mick), Joshua Colley (Monty the crow), and David Iacono (David the Demon).
As for Yuyu Kitamura (Niko Sasaki), the series' writers have confirmed that Niko is still out there. In a Tudum interview, co-showrunner Steve Yockey explained, "The soapstone polar bear pulls her soul out of her body and sends it to the astral plane. And the astral plane is where we find her and the Dandelion Sprites in the igloo at the very end.”
What would 'Dead Boy Detectives' season 2 be about?
The Dead Boy Detectives season 1 finale does set up several character-based storylines to follow in season 2: the new dynamic with the Night Nurse watching over Edwin and Charles, Crystal reckoning with her past and re-connecting with her parents, and how Niko could get off the astral plane to re-join the agency.
However, in terms of an overall villain arc or exactly what cases are coming up, it's pretty much anyone's guess, due to the show's case of the week structure.
How does 'Dead Boy Detectives' connect to 'The Sandman?
Viewers who happened to watch Dead Boy Detectives before The Sandman missed out on some major Easter eggs from the Netflix's first Gaiman-verse series. In addition to Death herself showing up in the series opener, Edwin also runs into Dream (Tom Sturridge) and Death's sister Despair (Donna Preston); during a brief respite from Hell, he shares a chat with her as she feeds off souls' misery in a strange dimension full of mirrors. In addition to nodding towards the new series' spin-off status, both of these nods also foreshadow Edwin and Charles possibly making an appearance in the forthcoming second season of The Sandman.
The two main Dead Boy Detectives comic book characters first appeared in The Sandman comic issue #25, which also serves as Edwin and Charles' friendship origin story. In the comic, the pair meet after Lucifer (Gwendoline Christie) abdicates the throne of Hell and expels all of the demons and damned souls within, leaving Dream to clean up the mess. Edwin, who had been in Hell after his death in 1916, ends up haunting his old boarding school in the '90s. There, he meets Charles, a living student who eventually dies, and Charles chooses to stay on Earth with Edwin.
Edwin and Charles' meet-cute plays out in a similar way in Netflix's Dead Boy Detectives series; since we don't see how Edwin made it out of Hell and arrived at the school, his arc could line up with the comic's events.
While the timeline between the two series may not seem as though they add up, considering Lucifer is still the ruler of Hell in the Netflix Sandman adaptation, Gaiman confirmed in a Variety interview that season 2 of the series would be based on the "Seasons of Mists" storyline. That series of events just so happens to include The Sandman #25. Whether we see Edwin cameo as one of the souls leaving Hell, or an entirely different scene, it would be thrilling to see Dream and the Dead Boy Detectives cross paths.
What have the cast and crew said about 'Dead Boy Detectives' season 2?
Thus far, the cast and crew have been tight-lipped about their plans for season 2's plot. In an interview with Deadline, showrunners Steve Yockey and Beth Schwartz shared that they've had some "really, really good conversations" about a possible second season, but they didn't drop any new clues beyond that.
Schwartz told the outlet, "We ended the season specifically to set up a season 2, because all our characters are going back to London and the agency has expanded. Just all the fun and the new dynamics that we could explore in season 2 would be really, really exciting for us."
However, Yockey and Schwartz have shared good news about the potential future of the series. In a SFX Magazine interview, the duo revealed that they have already thought ahead toward several more seasons of Dead Boy Detectives.
"If we get a season two, we have plans coming off the end of season 1," Yockey said, per GamesRadar. "We also have some ideas for season 3. We’re ready. We’ve got the ideas. We’ve got the stuff. I don’t want to say too much, just because a lot of it comes off the finale."
Schwartz added, "Steve and I have talked about the very, very end of this series, but this is the kind of show that really could go on forever because the cases are so much fun and they get wilder and crazier as we go. Our characters, there’s no limit to where we can take them and where they can grow. So we’ll be on for as long as Netflix has us."
