Dead Boy Detectives (2024–2024) is a fantasy-horror teen detective series that streamed on Netflix. Based on characters co-created by Neil Gaiman for DC Comics, the show follows the adventures of the ghosts of two British teenage boys, Edwin Payne (played by George Rexstrew) and Charles Rowland (Jayden Revri). Set in the same universe as The Sandman (2022–), Edwin, who died in the 1910s, and Charles, who died in the 1980s, have refused to pass on to the afterlife. Instead, they run a detective agency solving supernatural crimes while trying to stay one step ahead of Death and her underlings. Since both boys died as a result of bullying, and their murders went unsolved and uninvestigated, they have resolved to look after those who have been forgotten.
The show’s first (and only) season centers around a young psychic woman named Crystal Palace, whose memories have been stolen by a demon and who hires the Dead Boys to help her. Together, they travel to a small coastal town in the American Pacific Northwest, where a multi-layered mystery soon unfolds.
Over the course of the first season Edwin, who spent over 70 years in Hell due to a clerical error before managing to escape, has a self-discovery arc where he acknowledges and accepts his long-repressed homosexuality and comes into his own as a gay man. After having romantic flashes with several other male characters (one a shapeshifting cat and another a crow!), Edwin realizes that his true feelings have always been for Charles. When Edwin tells Charles he loves him, Charles says he doesn’t feel the same way, but is fully understanding and accepting, and the relationship isn’t strained by the revelation. And while Charles himself has a romance subplot with Crystal, which ends with them just being friends, there’s more going on. Charles has a very queer-coded appearance, speech patterns, and mannerisms. There are also moments throughout the show where the boys share moments together that hint at a spark beyond mere friendship.
In addition, Charles is canonically bisexual in the comics, and every indication while watching the first season was that the story was building toward a future “Chedwin” love arc. The foreshadowing was so strong that some of the show’s promotional photos feature George Rextrew and Jayden Revri in intimate poses as though they were a romantic couple. But before this plot could flower and blossom in a second season, Dead Boy Detectives was cancelled. The show’s dedicated superfans have gone to extraordinary lengths to get the show renewed, but as of now, the queer ghost detectives seem to have passed on.