It's one and done for The Sandman spin-off.
Picture: Netflix
Dead Boy Detectives, the paranormal series set within Netflix’s The Sandman Universe, started with fantastic reviews from critics and casual viewers when it launched in April 2024. Still, viewership was its ultimate downfall, as it’s now been confirmed via Variety that the show will not be returning for season 2 despite the fact that The Sandman will return in summer 2024.
Created by Neil Gaiman, the Dead Boy Detectives have their origin within the Sandman comics, making their first appearance in Sandman issue #25. Over the years, the duo have had adventures in comic books written by various authors.
The TV show is not a one-to-one adaptation of any of the comics, unlike The Sandman series, which is incredibly faithful to its source material. Developed by Steve Yockey (The Flight Attendant) and Beth Schwartz (Arrow), the 8-episode series stars George Rexstrew, Jayden Revri, Kassius Nelson, Briana Cuoco, Ruth Connell, Yuyu Kitamura, and Jenn Lyon.
Dead Boy Detectives Season 2 Renewal Status
Official Renewal Status: Canceled
Our Renewal Prediction: Likely Cancelation
In August 2024, Joe Otterson for Variety announced the show would not be coming back for season 2.
That cancelation is despite fans being buoyed by a recent interview with Greg Berlanti that heavily hinted that more was on the way. Deadline posted the interview in mid-July and the interviewer suggested that the series had been renewed. Mike Fleming Jr asked:
“You were so prolific in the DC series game that we speculated maybe you should take over when Walter Hamada left. James Gunn and Peter Safran now reign. You have Dead Boy Detectives returning, but have your superhero ambitions waned?”
Given how the show ends on a cliffhanger, seeing (spoiler) Niko seemingly alive and well after ‘dying’ while holding the trinket handed to her by Tragic Mick (Michael Beach), the show was certainly all set up for a second season.
More positive signs early on included Steve Yockey’s WGA profile and numerous other people connected to the show, which suggested, at the very least, that there’s been some early development work on season 2. In numerous interviews, the creators have suggested more could be on the way.
Ultimately, as we’ll cover in a second, the viewership simply wasn’t strong enough to get a second season. That’s not even mentioning the lingering cloud over the head of the source material creator’s head right now.
Credit: Netflix
How well did Dead Boy Detectives Perform on Netflix?
Let’s dive into the numbers. Here’s where things never looked bright for Dead Boy Detectives.
Starting with Netflix’s Top 10s, we can see that the show is struggling to make a name for itself in its first two weeks. Here’s the performance thus far after three weeks (April 21st to May 12th):
| Week Period | Hours Viewed | Views / CVE | Rank | Week in Top 10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 21st, 2024 to April 28th, 2024 | 22,200,000 | 3,100,000 | 2 | 1 |
| April 28th, 2024 to May 5th, 2024 | 34,100,000 (+54%) | 4,700,000 | 3 | 2 |
| May 5th, 2024 to May 12th, 2024 | 13,300,000 (-61%) | 1,800,000 | 7 | 3 |
Of course, those numbers alone mean nothing, so if we compare week one against other Netflix Original shows (those in green got renewed, those in red were canceled, and those in yellow are pending), we can see DBD sits at the bottom end of the viewership table.
Moving into week two, we can start comparing against other shows in the same genre, and we can see from this that the show is in dangerous waters, given that it’s tracking below many canceled shows. Lockwood & Co. was doing better than Dead Boy Detectives at this stage after its release, and the show is also tracking below other high-profile cancelations like First Kill and Warrior Nun season 2.
- Dead Boy Detectives Vs Other Netflix Origianl Series In Week 2
- Dead Boy Detectives Vs Warrior Nun S2 First Kill
In week 3, the show’s viewing hours dropped by 61%. If we plot the views in a graph, the show is tracking right at the bottom of Netflix’s English language titles. All the titles in red are canceled, those in yellow are pending and those in green are renewed:
One hope the show has is that Ted Sarandos mentioned that Dead Boy Detectives would be among the lineup of Netflix’s Upfront presentation taking place on May 15th, 2024.
Despite this all being bad news, there is some good news. The Sandman season 2 is still happening and is set to premiere sometime in 2025. Hopefully, the Dead Boys appear in the new batch of episodes.
What to expect from Dead Boy Detectives season 2 Had It Been Renewed
We don’t know which stories Dead Boy Detectives season 2 would cover. With that said co-showrunner Beth Schwartz has revealed that the team has plans to take the story further — not only for season 2 but for season 3 and beyond.
“If we get a season two, we have plans coming off the end of season one,” she told SFX Magazine. “We also have some ideas for season three. 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.”
Turns out, Schwartz and Yockey are more than happy to keep the series running for as long as Netflix allows them to:
“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.”
Picture: Netflix
Moreover, if one thing is for sure, the team is keen to keep crossovers with The Sandman coming. In season 1, we got brief cameos from two of the Endless: Death (Kirby Howell-Baptiste) and Despair (Donna Preston). Looking ahead to a hypothetical season 2, showrunner Steve Yockey believes there’s ample opportunity for more cameos. “I think as long as there is an emotional and narrative reason to have them, yes,” Yockey told Screen Rant, adding that any crossover has to be meaningful to the story. “But I don’t think we’re just going to be pulling people willy-nilly just to get the kind of pop.”
Are you sad Dead Boy Detectives won’t return for a season 2? Let us know in the comments down below.
This post contains contributions from Ashley Wilmshurst.
