DC series ‘Dead Boy Detectives’ still purring at HBO Max, casts its Cat King

There's been more than one DC-related project that's been shelved at Warner Bros. Discovery since the two companies merged, most notably the movie Batgirl. Thankfully, some DC projects have survived the chopping block, and apparently one of them is Greg Berlanti’s Dead Boy Detectives.

Last year, the Arrowverse creator made a deal with HBO Max to executive produce a pilot based on Neil Gaiman's comics about two ghostly boys who decline to move on in their afterlives and solve mysteries instead. HBO Max is describing the show as “a vintage detective series — only darker and on acid,” and it also explores themes of loss, grief, and death. 

HBO Max picked up the eight-episode series last April, and since then we’ve found out that the two deceased teenage detectives — Edwin Payne and Charles Rowland — will be respectively played by George Rexstrew and Jayden Revri. Co-showrunners Steve Yockey and Beth Schwartz also brought on Kassius Nelson to play the two boys’ very much alive friend, Crystal Palace, who also has a significant role in the series.

According to Variety, Rexstrew, Revri, and Palace have a new cast member on board who will be playing the purrrfect part: Lukas Gage will be playing the recurring role of Cat King, an itinerant feline spirit who is as charming as he is duplicitous.

Gage’s previous credits include Peacock’s limited series Angelyne and HBO’s White Lotus. Other cast members of the upcoming show include Briana Cuoco as Jenny the Butcher, Ruth Connell as the Night Nurse (who played the same part on Doom Patrol), Yuyu Kitamura as Niko, and Jenn Lyon as Esther.

All this casting news means that the show is moving ever-closer to streaming on HBO Max. We’ve no official word, however, on when we’ll be able to check out the dead boys’ supernatural sleuthing.

Looking for more things ghostly? Check out SYFY’s SurrealEstate, which has a second season on the way.