Dead Boy Detectives Star Jenn Lyon Breaks Down Esther's Witchy Look & Teases Immortal Life After Defeat

Summary Jenn Lyon discusses embracing the role of villain Esther Finch in Dead Boy Detectives on Netflix.

Dead Boy Detectives, based on Neil Gaiman's characters, follows ghostly detectives solving supernatural mysteries.

Lyon teases the possibility of Esther's return in a potential season 2 and shares her upcoming projects.

Dead Boy Detectives star Jenn Lyon opens up on taking on the villainous role of Esther Finch in the new Netflix drama. The Sandman universe is quickly becoming one of Netflix's biggest properties, as 2024 brought to life another series set in Neil Gaiman's property. Based on characters created back in 1991, Dead Boy Detectives chronicles the adventures of Edwin Payne and Charles Rowland, two teenagers who passed away decades ago and are now running away from Death.

However, as Edwin and Charles continue to remain in the living world as ghosts, the duo operate as detectives for the weird and supernatural. In Dead Boy Detectives season 1, Esther Finch, an immortal witch, serves as the primary antagonist after Edwin, Charles, and their new ally, Crystal Palace, arrive in Port Townsend, Washington. Portrayed by Lyon, Esther does everything she can to take down the Dead Boy Detectives, which proves to be far more challenging than she realized.

Related Dead Boy Detectives 12 Easter Eggs & DC Comics References Explained The Netflix mystery series Dead Boy Detectives includes multiple Easter Eggs and DC Comics references, such as the cameos by Despair and Death.

Screen Rant recently interviewed Lyon, after the release of Dead Boy Detectives season 1 on Netflix to share her journey on joining The Sandman spinoff. Throughout the interview, Lyon reflects on creating this original supernatural being for Dead Boy Detectives and, despite her grim ending in the season 1 finale, whether or not Esther could return for a possible season 2.

Jenn Lyon Breaks Down Esther Finch In Dead Boy Detectives Season 1

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Screen Rant: Prior to joining Dead Boy Detectives, what did your comic book experience look like?

Jenn Lyon: My brother collected comics when I was little, we spend time in comic book stores. He was very [much into] Spider-Man, Superman, and Fantastic Four. I loved graphic novels more, but I didn't read graphic novels that were [by] Neil Gaiman. I read his novel-novels, but I was familiar with a tons of his work. He's so prolific, he has so many books. I was familiar with a lot of them and I loved The Sandman. I thought that series was so dope, it floored me with the production values, the actors, the choices. I was bowled over by it. I loved Good Omens, I loved American Gods, I am a fan!

Receiving Love From Trixie Mattel & Katya Zamolodchikova

As I ask you this, I hope you have seen this - Trixie Mattel and Katya recently reacted to Dead Boy Detectives in their latest I Like To Watch episode...

Jenn Lyon: Andy, I feel like I got the EGOT. That's an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony to me! I cried, I legit cried! I hate to be that kind of person, but I left a teary voicemail for George [who plays Edwin] because we love Trixie and Katya so much.

I feel you need to do something with Trixie and Katya at some point after their love for Esther!

Jenn Lyon: Hopefully, I wouldn't fan girl out, I hope I'd be cool. I would try to be cool, play a little hard to get for like 30 seconds!

Creating The Look For Esther Finch On Dead Boy Detectives

Image via Netflix

I loved the fashion for Esther, who is definitely one of the more well-dressed witches I have seen in a while. Can you talk about developing this look for her, were you involved a lot with that?

Jenn Lyon: Kelli Dunsmore, our costume designer. was so brilliant. We came in and she had these mood boards up there - because this world for her, she was like Vivienne Westwood mixed with God mixed with current style. She just had all these looks for everybody and they made that coat. They made the fur for the coat because they had this coat that was like all-fur, - we call it the Beast - and it was so hot. I'm a sweaty person and I was like, 'I can't do it!' So they put the fur-collar from that onto this camel coat. Once we put it on and she handed me the cane, I was just like, 'Oh, this b---h!' I was so excited and she's a genius., [the looks for] the Cat King, the Night Nurse, from the fastidious to the sexual grunge, I was floored by her. We had the best time in fittings and usually you go to fittings to cry and feel bad about yourself. But with these fittings, we had the best time, we'd listen to hip hop and marched around.

What was the experience like doing the action bits on this show? I assume it is a combination of practical and VFX work.

Jenn Lyon: Well, like in the Cat King scene in rehearsal, they'd be like, 'Okay, and then you're choking him. Where do you think you want to move? Then we need to kill him down here, so we need to get down here eventually.' But then you don't shoot the actual choking moment until you get to that moment and then they're like, 'Okay, hold your hands here. Okay, move your head here. Okay, slightly to the left. Make sure the light is touching your eye,' and then you hold a minute, and then he would disappear from it. Then they'd get a clean plate of you just holding your hands. so that they can do it later. It's very technical and Kassius [Nelson, who plays Crystal Palace] and I's fight in the woods at night, we had big stunt rehearsals and we did tons of it. We were taking the punches, the kicks and falling on the ground and slamming her head into the ground. She was pulling my hair and that's like stage-combat stuff, which is fun and scary. But then in terms of pretending there's a giant mushroom growing out of the ground behind you, you just gotta use your imagination! [laughs] But there's a great scene in the finale, where I go to choke her, and she is up on ropes. That was really fun to shoot, because she's just dangling in there, and that's fun.

Could Esther Return In Dead Boy Detectives Season 2?

Despite Lilith getting her at the end of Dead Boy Detectives season 1, we didn't exactly see a dead body...what are the chances we may see Esther again in Dead Boy Detectives season 2?

Jenn Lyon: She is immortal, I don't think she can die... Maybe she will make a new deal? I don't really know, I know that it will be an honor and a privilege to come back. I love this, there's so much, but she's got to learn a lesson, right? You can't just eat kids willy nilly, can you?

What Is Next For Jenn Lyon After Dead Boy Detectives

Image via Netflix

Besides hopefully seeing you in a potential Dead Boy Detectives season 2, what is next for you?

Jenn Lyon: I'm actually shooting right now, there's a new limited series about the happy face serial killer called Happy Face, and I'm in that. There's also a new series coming out on FX called English Teacher, which is very funny and starrs Brian Jordan Alvarez, Stephanie Koenig, they're so funny and I play someone in the past.

About Dead Boy Detectives

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Do you have a pesky ghost haunting you? Has a demon stolen your core memories? You may want to ring the Dead Boy Detectives. Meet Edwin Payne (George Rexstrew) and Charles Rowland (Jayden Revri), “the brains” and “the brawn” behind the Dead Boy Detectives agency. Teenagers born decades apart who find each other only in death, Edwin and Charles are best friends and ghosts… who solve mysteries. They will do anything to stick together – including escaping evil witches, Hell and Death herself. With the help of a clairvoyant named Crystal (Kassius Nelson) and her friend Niko (Yuyu Kitamura), they are able to crack some of the mortal realm’s most mystifying paranormal cases.

Check out our other Dead Boy Detectives interviews:

Dead Boy Detectives season 1 is now streaming on Netflix.