Locke & Key arrived on Netflix after years of anticipated development, and fans of the source material finally got to see it on the small screen.
Here is a look at everything you need to know about Locke & Key.
What is Locke & Key based on?
Locke & Key is a comic book series that was created by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez.
Hill is the son of the Master of Horror himself, Stephen King. However, Hill has found a lot of success out on his own without using his dad’s famous name.
Already adapted from his books is the Daniel Radcliffe movie Horns and the AMC original series NOS4A2. However, many of his fans consider Locke & Key to be his true masterpiece.
Locke & Key was published from February 2008 through December 2013 and was collected in six volumes. The first was Welcome to Lovecraft, which was changed to Welcome to Matheson for the Netflix series.
The third book was Crown of Shadows, which was the title of the season 1 finale.
While most expected Locke & Key to be a one-and-done series, the ending seemed to take a twist from the source material and leaves it open for a possible second season, completely separate from the story Hill and Rodriguez told in their books.
What took Locke & Key so long to make it to TV?
Interestingly, Locke & Key has been in development for a very long time and it wasn’t until it reached Netflix that the series was made.
As far back as 2008, Dimension acquired the rights to the story with the idea that it could become a film. However, by the time the comic series was completed, most fans knew a movie wouldn’t hold all the story, but there really wasn’t enough for a franchise of films either.
A TV series was the way to go.
Dreamworks acquired the property two years later and Alex Kurtzman (Star Trek) was handed the property with Steven Spielberg as the executive producer.
A pilot was shot with Mark Romanek (Never Let Me Go) but Fox passed on the series after seeing the pilot episode. It included actors such as Mirando Otto and Jesse McCartney.
Next, the show moved on to Hulu in 2017 and they signed Scott Derrickson (Doctor Strange) to adapt it. He left the project and Andy Muschietti (It: Chapter One and It: Chapter Two) took over.
That is when actor Jackson Robert Scott signed on to play Bode, the only actor that stuck with it to the Netflix series. They filmed a second pilot, and then Hulu also passed on it.
Now, finally, in 2020, Netflix has released Locke & Key for the world to see.
All 10 episodes of Locke & Key are currently streaming on Netflix.