SEATTLE — "Dead Boy Detectives" is a twisted tale of two young sleuths from the great beyond, based on a popular comic book.
"I think the reason why it has such a large fanbase is because the original comic is fantastic," said Kassius Nelson, who plays a psychic on the show.
But the new Netflix series has something else going for it. It takes place in a ghostly version of Port Townsend.
"I sort of really felt strongly about setting it in the Pacific Northwest and getting that color into the show," said showrunner Steve Yockey. "I should say to the residents of Port Townsend, Washington, the things that happen on our show are not meant to reflect your community."
Yockey and co-creator Beth Schwartz jokingly apologize for a few key plot points.
"Well, the murder house," Schwartz said. Obviously.
Yockey added, "The demon taking over the abandoned rollerskating rink. And (one character) saying, as a lifetime resident, 'This is the example of the death of small-town America.' By the way, we have a writer on our show, Joshua Conkel, who was actually raised in Port Townsend. And so he was very loud in the writers' room when we would go too far."
The writers also had to manage fan expectations.
"A lot of them are already upset at us," Yockey said with a laugh.
In the onscreen version, "PT" is haunted to the core, providing plenty of business for the gumshoe ghosts, played by relative newcomers George Rexstrew and Jayden Revri, who bonded on a very cold set in the dead of a Vancouver winter.
"As ghosts, we can't feel temperature," Rexstrew explained.
Revri added, "We're there with, like, blue lips, blue ears and it's like, 'You guys OK?' And it's like, 'Yeah. Can't feel my top lip, though.'"
"The chemistry between each other, their friendship, what you're seeing on screen is also happening off-screen," Schwartz said, "They became really close friends."
"We're like brothers, and you know I love him, and I think that kind of just permeated throughout the set," Rexstrew said. "It was a really happy set, I think."
Rounding out the main cast are Nelson and Yuyu Kitamura.
"We were in wires quite a bit and hoisted up into the air," Nelson said. "That was a new experience."
Kitamura added, "I acted with a jar, and that was interesting."
Turns out, the cast was too busy filming to slip south of the border. In fact, some of the actors weren't even aware that the mystical Port Townsend actually exists in real life.
"I learned the hard way that it is a real town. I didn't know," Kitamura said.
Now that they do know, the cast and crew of "Dead Boy Detectives" will be sure to check out this not-so-scary town on the Olympic Peninsula.
"Here we come," said Rexstrew. "PT!"
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