Robert Carlyle joins COBRA — G.I. Joe is in for it now.
Netflix turns to a classic comic-book saga for its latest teen fantasy
WITH ITS PORTALS to other dimensions, teenagers bonding over shared trauma, ethereal supernatural beings, and a huge house with magical powers, you could be forgiven for thinking Locke
& Key takes its inspiration from a previous little Netflix masterpiece called The OA. But any resemblance is purely coincidental.
This new ten-parter is in fact based on a much-loved comic-book series by Stephen King’s son Joe Hill and illustrator Gabriel Rodriguez (who also worked together on the NOS4A2 graphic novel), and it’s been in development for over ten years. Showrunner Carlton Cuse (who worked on Lost and Bates
Motel) describes the show’s journey to the screen as “long, circuitous and sometimes tortuous”. A film trilogy and various TV versions were mooted, and Fox even produced a pilot episode which was shown at the San Diego Comic Con in 2011. But they decided against taking it to series, allowing Netflix to add another show to its impressive roster of edgy teen-drama originals.
The young characters at the centre of this fantasy/mystery hybrid are siblings Kinsey, Tyler and Bode Locke (Emilia Jones, Connor Jessup and Jackson Robert Scott), who move with their mother to their ancestral home in small-town Massachusetts after their father is killed in bizarre circumstances. The mansion turns out to contain magical keys which enable the Lockes to unleash fantastical powers and explore alternate dimensions, while an unearthly presence communes with the youngest Locke.
Painfully punning title and lengthy gestation period aside, the show has impressive credentials. The co-showrunner is Meredith Averill, who worked on The Haunting Of Hill House, and the opening episodes are directed by Michael Morris, who made exceptional episodes of Better Call Saul and Billions. And with those echoes of The OA, albeit accidental, Locke & Key could well be another Netflix portal into a magical new dimension.