On Thursday, Netflix dropped all eight episodes of the supernatural series Dead Boy Detectives, based on the beloved comic series from The Sandman‘s Neil Gaiman.

Edwin Payne (George Rexstrew) and Charles Rowland (Jayden Revri) are best friends — and as the title suggests, they’re dead. However, as ghosts, they’re tasked with solving paranormal mysteries.

One of their allies in their quests is Tragic Mick, sort of the Q to the specter sleuths’ James Bond.

The actor who plays him, Michael Beach, says there’s more to the eccentric character, however.

“He’s a man who used to be a walrus, but because of some mystical thing — and it will come up in the show —he has been a human for 200 years,” Beach says. “And he spent that time, all of that time trying to find potions and spells … to turn him back into a walrus, because he misses living in the sea.”

Beach explains, “He’s developed this shop where people can come and get potions and spells to help themselves out of whatever. So, the two main characters, the dead boys, they often come to him because they are trying to help other dead people move on to whatever the next realm is that they’re going.”

The actor adds with a laugh, “You know, I spent some time on YouTube looking up … video of these huge, hulking walruses hanging out. And, you know, how they sounded, how they moved and tried to incorporate that into who Tragic Mick was.”

He adds, “That’s part of the joy about being an actor, right? If the writing is good and the people are open to … you trying crazy stuff sometimes, then that’s the real fun of it.”  

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