Dead Boy Detectives Stars on Edwin's Confession Scene: Charles Said 'The Most Perfect Line He Could Have Said'

[Warning: The following contains spoilers for Dead Boy Detectives Episode 7. Read at your own risk!]

Sometimes, it takes a near-death experience to realize your true feelings. That didn't exactly happen to Dead Boy Detectives' Edwin Payne (George Rexstrew), who is already dead — and has been since the year 1916. But it did take the ghost being stuck in the literal depths of Hell to confront his emotions. And specifically, his emotions toward the other half of the Dead Boy Detectives, Charles Rowland (Jayden Revri). Throughout the Netflix series, Edwin started to observe his attraction toward his best friend Charles — but he kept most of these feelings bottled away. It wasn't until Charles ventured into Hell to save Edwin, and the two were running up a seemingly never-ending staircase, that Edwin decided, yes, this is the time to uncork the bottle.

"I love you," Edwin tells Charles. "As more than a friend, I'm afraid." Rexstrew spoke to TV Guide about the timing of that confession. "That was the moment that Edwin shares his feelings because he's just had that interaction with Simon in the book room," the actor said, referring to the character who was responsible for sending Edwin to Hell more than a century ago. "It's in that moment he realizes Simon was like him." Edwin did not know that his former classmate was romantically attracted to boys and in particular, had a crush on him. "He sees firsthand that you can't live your life with regrets, you need to express how you feel and who you are," Rexstrew continued. The actor emphasized the sequence of events, from Edwin making that realization to seeing Charles in Hell shortly after. 

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At first, Charles thinks Edwin's declaration of love is a joke. But after seeing that his best friend is being sincere, he takes a few steps closer. "You are the most important person in the world to me," Charles says with both hands on Edwin's shoulders. "I can't really say that I'm in love with you back, but there's no one else, no one else that I would go to Hell for." 

Was this response more a "not right now" than a "no"? "I think it was both," Revri said. "I don't think Charles actually knows what he feels about the whole situation in that moment." The actor shared that his character is not judging Edwin at all. "[Charles] says,' We have forever to figure out what it means.' I think that's the most perfect line he could have said." Besides, the timing could not have been worse. "I think his main goal is just to get his best friend out of Hell," Revri said. 

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Rexstrew also shared more of how Edwin felt upon hearing Charles' response. "Initially, it's rejection because it's not reciprocated. And obviously, you don't like to hear that if you're in that position," the actor said. "But I think Charles handles it so beautifully because it's a not right now, it's still an 'I love you' which is the most important thing." 

He continued. "In terms of how Edwin feels about it, I don't think we've really touched on that yet," Rexstrew said. "I think that could be to come."

All 8 episodes of Dead Boy Detectives are available to stream on Netflix.