It has been announced – much to the disappointment of fans – that Netflix’s The Sandman spinoff series, Dead Boy Detectives, has been cancelled after only one season.
Originally piloted with HBO Max in 2021, the show was sold to Netflix in 2023 and released just this year on April 25.
The show received critical appraise, averaging a 92% critical score on Rotten Tomatoes, and a 90% audience score, which just goes to show that it really has promise and some passionate fans. Neil Gaiman himself was one of the show’s executive producers, so it’s clear that it could have had a future in the wider Sandman franchise if given the chance.
But, in a tale as old as time, Dead Boy Detectives committed the cardinal sin of falling off, or more appropriately not immediately being the most popular and record breaking show ever.
It sat in Netflix’s top ten for English TV for three weeks post release, which is decent, but clearly that combined with the extremely high praise from those who watched it still wasn’t enough (thanks, Variety).