Locke & Key Finally Lands Series Order From Netflix

Locke & Key is no longer being kept behind closed doors. 

Per Variety, Netflix has finally, officially ordered Locke & Key to series. This news comes two months after fellow streaming site Hulu passed on the pilot, giving Netflix the chance to snag it, and a whopping eight years after the IDW Publishing comic series was first eyed for a screen adaptation. 

With its new series order, Locke & Key will run for a 10-episode hour-long first season with an additional co-showrunner, new writer, and an entirely fresh cast. 

The Good Wife's Meredith Averill will serve as co-showrunner, working beside Lost creator Carlton Cuse. Star Trek: Discovery producer Aaron Eli Coleite rewrote the pilot script with Locke & Key comic creator Joe Hill, and is also now attached as an executive producer. Netflix will acknowledge Averill, Cuse, and Coleite as developers of Locke & Key in a "series developed by" credit, according to The Hollywood Reporter. 

Unfortunately, Locke & Key is still without a director. It filmmaker Andy Muschietti was previously attached to helm the series, but he got wrapped up directing It: Chapter Two and had to dip out. (Considering how well the horror sequel is coming together, with A-listers like Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, and Bill Hader on board as the members of the adult Losers' Club, you can't really find fault in Muschietti's move.) He and his sister, It and Mama producer Barbara Muschietti, remain tied to Locke & Key as executive producers. 

Based on the beloved horror-fantasy comic series of the same name, created by Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez, Locke & Key centers on three Locke family siblings who pack up their belongings and move into their ancestral home in Massachusetts following the murder of their father. There, the children and their mother discover that the keys to the house are enchanted, granting them supernatural abilities. Unbeknownst to the Lockes, however, a demon is on the hunt for the keys — and will go to great, dangerous lengths to get its hands on them. 

Frances O'Connor, Megan Charpentier, Owen Teague, Nate Corddry, Danny Glover, and several others were set to star in the series. But as previously announced, Netflix will recast all Locke & Key roles. It's worth noting that in May of 2018, Deadline offered a conflicting account, reporting that Netflix will only "two of the three Locke children." It appears now that the entire roster will be cleared away and refilled.

Though hearing that Netflix is reworking the project so extensively might give some Locke & Key comic fans pause, or even frustrate them given the near-decade it's taken for a studio to seriously adapt the property, it shouldn't. This is fairly standard practice in Hollywood. Plenty of TV directors have shot pilot episodes and then recast major roles, which has often resulted in stellar final products. Think about it: Game of Thrones wouldn't be what it is now if the series' showrunners hadn't tapped Emilia Clarke to replace original Daenerys Targaryen actress, Tamzin Merchant. So, at the end of the day, it's entirely possible that Netflix's translation of Locke & Key will be far better than Hulu's vision might have been, all thanks to a glistening new cast and a bit of elbow grease.

Locke & Key doesn't yet have a release date, but we'll keep you updated on all things related to the series moving forward.