Unlock your imagination with Netflix’s ‘Locke & Key’

Adapted from the award-winning and totally unputdownable six-volume graphic novel series written by Joe Hill and illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez, Locke & Key finally hits the Netflix streaming channel today.

And if the trailers are anything to go by, this series is going to be every bit as engrossing as the Eisner award-winning books.

If you don’t already know, development of the series into a live-action version has been a somewhat sketchy one.

Over the past decade or so, the idea had been passed around like a foster kid whose potential everyone recognised and yet did not have the resources to unlock – that is until Netflix jumped at the opportunity.

Darby Stanchfield in ‘Locke & Key’. Picture: Netflix

Enlisting the creative talents of Carlton Cuse (Lost, Bates Motel), Meredith Averill (The Haunting of Hill House) and Aron Eli Coleite (Heroes), the 10-episode first season has been a labour of love for the producers. But has it been worth the wait?

We got an exclusive behind-the-scenes interview with Cuse and Connor Jessup, who plays Tyler Locke, the eldest of the three kids.

Speaking ahead of the series’ Netflix debut, Cuse says Locke & Key has been one of his favourite comics since Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez published the first issues with IDW in 2008.

“I worked with Joe Hill on the pilot script and we found the right partners at Netflix to bring the show to life. I couldn’t be more excited,” says Cuse.

“Locke & Key is truly multidimensional. It’s a dark fantasy with scary moments. The story is full of surprising twists and turns, but it’s also a family drama.”

Laysla De Oliveira in ‘Locke & Key’. Picture: Netflix

Fittingly, the series actually revolves around Nina Locke (played by Darby Stanchfield of Scandal fame) and her three kids Tyler (played by American Crime standout Jessup), Kinsey (played by Utopia’s Emilia Jones) and Bode (Jackson Robert Scott from It).

Following her husband’s gruesome murder, recovering alcoholic Nina relocates herself and the kids to their ancestral home, Key House.

Soon after, Bode (the youngest of the two boys) makes a series of discoveries around the Key House property in the form of a mysterious presence inside a wellhouse, and a series of keys that possess strange and somewhat icky magical powers.

Emilia Jones, Connor Jessup and Jackson Robert Scott in ‘Locke & Key’. Picture: Netflix

Jessup says Locke & Key is a show about a family trying to cope with grief and find ways to love each other. And around that is this enormous world of magic and fun and intrigue and mystery.

“The keys are the fun part because they are our access point to magic … the Locke kids are normal kids. But these keys let them harness magical powers.

“But within each of these keys are hidden dangers. And the source and the purpose for all of them is dark and mysterious. So, they are both the energy and the trap in this story,” says Jessup.

Producer Cuse says the different elements of the series will pique different people’s interests.

“Some viewers will be compelled by the story of a family trying to recover from horrible tragedy and grief, while others will be drawn to the fantasy elements.

“We also tried to create a teen drama that was every bit as good as any other show on television,” said Cuse.

Be sure to tune in to Netflix tonight for the season premiere of Locke & Key.

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