One Of TV’s Best Superhero Series Is Getting A Spin-Off
A fan favorite series is about to get a spinoff. Here's all we've learned so far.
This article is more than 2 years old
Doom Patrol is getting a spin-off series, kind of. Variety has learned that HBO Max has ordered a pilot for Dead Boy Detectives, a series based on the DC Vertigo comics by Neil Gaiman. Charles Rowland and Edwin Paine are the main characters for Dead Boy Detectives. They’re two kids who decide that heading off into the great beyond after their deaths doesn’t sound like a great time. They’d rather hang around Earth and solve supernatural crimes. Right now, Warner Bros is only moving forward with a pilot episode, so there’s no telling if Dead Boy Detectives will become a full series for HBO Max, though it does seem hopeful since a pilot episode is the first step.
The Dead Boy Detectives pilot is expected to begin filming in November, as long as production stays on schedule. Before then, they’ll have to sign on a director and actors to play the main characters. On Doom Patrol, we’re actually going to be meeting the Dead Boy Detectives in the upcoming season three on September 23, 2021. They will be played by Sebastian Croft and Ty Tennant, as first reported by The Direct. These two actors may be signed on for the new Dead Boy Detectives series. Or they may not? At this point, there has been no news about who will be playing the characters in the new pilot. It wouldn’t be too unusual for them to be recast on the new series.
The interconnected world for DC gets a little more complicated, and a lot more fun, with this new addition to the lineup for HBO Max. Doom Patrol is technically a spin-off series from Titans, with some of the same actors playing their roles in both series. Despite this, both of these series are seen as taking place in their own timelines. Fans aren’t supposed to look at these two shows and see them as being in the same universe. It sounds like if Dead Boy Detectives gets picked up, it may also be its own show in its own universe. We’ll have to wait to see how this new project develops over the next couple of months as they prepare to film the pilot.
Why would they recast the new actors they just got playing the Dead Boy Detectives on Doom Patrol? Because the two main characters are going to be children who shouldn’t age, it may make sense to cast actors who are slightly younger and who don’t have any other production commitments. Productions are still being affected by COVID quarantines and the Delta variant. If Dead Boys Detectives goes to series, they’ll need actors who can film as soon as they’re ready. They may also want other actors to better clarify for audiences that these characters are in a separate world from their Doom Patrol counterparts–if they are. It’s not yet known if Dead Boy Detectives the series may be in the same world.
The characters for the new show were first seen in Neil Gaiman’s Sandman comics in 1991, which is also getting its own series soon (though as this time, the Dead Boy Detectives aren’t expected to appear). Now, they’ll be seen in Doom Patrol on September 23, 2021. Then, in their own pilot episode.
