Another DC TV show has just been cancelled; fans heartbroken

The past couple of years have been pretty rough for DC Comics fans. Not only was the cinematic landscape rocked by the cancellation of all things related to the DC Extended Universe due to the new leadership at Warner Bros. Discovery, The CW's long-running Arrowverse was brought to a premature end by the new leadership at that network as well.

Some titles have remained behind to fill the gap in between, as Warner Bros. prepares to launch the new era of DC movies and TV shows under the DC Studios umbrella. This new shared universe will simply be known as the DC Universe and will be overseen by James Gunn and Peter Safran. But. like I said, not all of the classic shows have ended just yet, with Max's animated series Harley Quinn set to return for a fifth season and The CW's Superman and Lois getting a fourth and final season.

In the midst of all of that, there was one survivor that wasn't directly overseen by Warner, Max or The CW, ut that show has also sadly come to a premature conclusion.

Dead Boy Detectives cancelled at Netflix after just one season

Netflix has unfortunately cancelled Dead Boy Detectives after just one season. Variety have confirmed the news after months of speculation about the DC TV series' fate, which has understandably left fans upset.

While the streamer has not revealed the reason for cancellation, it's likely that it didn't perform as strongly as it had hoped, given its connection to both the DC brand and the fact that it was a spinoff of the uber-successful Netflix series The Sandman. That's not to say that it didn't perform well out of the gate, however. The show premiered on April 25 on the streamer and performed rather well in those first couple of weeks, opening at No. 2 in its first weekend of release and dropping only to No. 3 in its second (although it actually increased on watch-hours). Unfortunately, it dropped in week 3 and fell out of the Top 10 after that.

This might actually be a case of bad timing, as the show had to contend with the unexpected success of Baby Reindeer, which benefitted from the Netflix algorithm recommendations. It became a phenomenon, which likely overshadowed any other release during those few weeks.

If you're wondering why Dead Boy Detectives was actually on Netflix, the streamer decided to pick it up after Warner Bros. Discovery purged almost all DC content in development. It was originally filmed as a Doom Patrol spinoff, but with Max now becoming the home for DC Universe content only, it was moved to Netflix as it was not a brand of that shared universe. And given that Netflix housed The Sandman, the show was reimagined as a spinoff of that instead, with two characters from the show actually appeared in DBD.

The show centered on ghosts Edwin Payne and Charles Rowland, who became friends in the afterlife and began solving mysteries together. Edwin had escaped from Hell, after a 70-year stint there due to a technicality, while Charles wasn't quite ready to proceed to the afterlife. As a result, they bonded and formed the Dead Boy Detectives Agency, helping other ghosts solve their own mysteries so that they could pass on to the afterlife.

Dead Boy Detectives developed a devoted following pretty quickly, with fans quickly falling in love with its outlandish and lovable characters. It was also critically-acclaimed, earning itself a 92% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with specific praise directed towards its performances, tone, and LGBTQ+ representation.

To say that its cancellation was unjust would be a major understatement. While the season ended in a mostly satisfying way, there were a number of loose ends that deserved to be wrapped up. But unfortunately, Netflix has a reputation for cancelling YA supernatural/fantasy shows.

RIP Dead Boy Detectives; you were loved, and you'll be missed.