Locke and Key series was worth the wait

It's been a long time coming, but it's finally here. I'm talking about Locke and Key, the highly anticipated adaptation of the award-winning comic book series of the same name, written by Joe Hill and illustrated by Gabe Rodriguez. And yes, fellow uber-fans, it was worth the wait. The series boasts strong writing, pacing, performances, and above all, it looks amazing, bringing the fabled Keyhouse and the darkly fantastical world of the comics to vivid life.

(Mild spoilers below.)

We've had to swallow our disappointment again and again over the years, since it proved notoriously difficult to get any adaptation off the ground. The project (in various iterations) bounced from Dreamworks and 20th Century Fox, to Universal and then Hulu, before finally landing at Netflix. That proved to be the perfect match. "I think this is the story in the best possible version," Hill said at a pre-release press event that also included Rodriguez and show runners Carlton Cuse (Lost) and Meredith Averill (Haunting of Hill House). He compared the various adaptation attempts to turning a combination lock and waiting to hear it click. "This time it clicked."

Following the brutal murder of their father, Rendell (Bill Heck, The Alienist), the surviving members of the Locke family—mom Nina (Darby Stanchfield, Scandal) and three children, Tyler (Connor Jessup, Falling Skies), Kinsey (Emilia Jones, Doctor Who), and Bode (Jackson Robert Scott, IT and IT Chapter Two)—arrive at Keyhouse, Rendell's Massachusetts ancestral home. Shortly after arrival, Bode, the youngest sibling, finds a magical key, and then another, and another, each with its own special power. They whisper to those who are sensitive to them—and of course, Bode, Tyler, and Kinsey can hear them.

The Anywhere Key, for instance, means the bearer can turn any door into a portal to any place he or she can visualize. The Ghost Key lets the holder's soul leave the body, while the Head Key inserts into the back of someone's head to reveal their thoughts and memories. But those keys also make the siblings the target of a mysterious being who goes by the name of Dodge (Laysla De Oliveira) and wants to possess all the keys—especially one known as the Omega Key.

The Netflix adaptation dials back the horror a bit to focus more on the dark fantasy/coming of age aspects, according to Averill, who described it as "a family drama with fantastical elements." But the horror roots are evident throughout and are particularly pronounced in the finale, which is genuinely suspenseful without relying on cheap gimmicks like jump scares. It's engrossing because we care deeply about the characters and are emotionally invested in the outcome. That's a tribute not just to the writing and casting but to the chemistry between the actors—something that, as Cuse pointed out, is an unpredictable "alchemy" that can't be faked.

Given the change in medium, there are several departures from the original comics. For instance, the comic series opens with the brutal murder of Rendell Locke in graphic detail, while in the series, we merely glimpse parts of the attack through flashbacks. That was a conscious decision, according to Cuse, who didn't want the violence of that attack to set the tone for the series as a whole. Instead, the first scene sets up the central mystery, as we see a man walking home and receiving a phone call informing him that Rendell Locke is dead. "I know what I need to do," he replies. He goes into the house and removes papers and an unusual-looking key from the safe. Then he stabs himself in the heart with the key, bursting into flames and setting the whole house ablaze.

Also, in the comics, the Head Key literally removes the top of someone's head when you insert it into their neck, allowing anyone to peer inside. But Cuse thought it would be "too gruesome for TV."  So in this incarnation, the subject freezes and a separate representation of the person appears, able to pass through a door to an Inception-inspired dimension containing one's thoughts and memories. The space reflects the personality of the individual, so the anxiety-ridden Kinsey's head space is a well-organized, colorful shopping mall, while Bode's is a theme park playground. It's a clever way to portray such an abstract concept, and I think it works well.

The comics creators are totally cool with those creative changes. "TV is working in a different language," Rodriguez said, emphasizing that both he and Hill did not obsess over pushing for a pure adaptation, recognizing they needed to let Cuse and Averill have some leeway to play in the fictional world they'd created. "I think they captured what Locke and Key was about and found a way to convey that on screen," he said, calling the two formats a "DNA helix—the show is a different reflection of what is in the comic."

"I think they captured what Locke and Key was about and found a way to convey that on screen."—Gabe Rodriguez

Hill and Rodriguez both have brief cameos in the series, as does Tom Savini, a makeup and VFX artist known for his work on the classic horror films of George Romero, among others. (In the series, Kinsey becomes friends with a group of students who call themselves the Savini Squad, with the goal of shooting their own low-budget horror film.) According to Hill, Savini was actually his unofficial babysitter on the set of Creepshow (1982) when he was nine years old, an experience that convinced him that "I wanted to kill people in interesting ways and invent remarkable monsters."

The ten episodes of this first season cover most of the main narrative arc in the comics. "You've got to spend your bullets," Cuse said of that decision, and again, I think it was a good call to make this first season as strong a narrative as possible. Hill described it as "All killer, no filler," noting how the unique Netflix model freed the writers from having to hit specific targets, such as ad beats, or adding extra scenes just to fill an allotted time slot. "If an episode needs to be 35 minutes, fine," he said. "If it needs to be 80 minutes, that's fine, too. You can tell the perfect story at the perfect length."

Of course, the finale wraps up several narrative threads while leaving some things open for a possible second season. It's too early to know if the show will be renewed, but I hope so. There is still so much of the world's rich history and mythology to explore further—where the keys came from, who made them, and who (or what) Dodge really is, for instance. Hill and Rodriguez are currently working on a new six-book series tentatively titled World War Key, which would no doubt provide additional fodder for any future seasons. "It's such an engaging universe, there are definitely more stories to tell," said Rodriguez. Here's hoping this creative team gets that chance.

Locke and Key is now streaming on Netflix.

Listing image by Netflix