The long, strange road for the screen adaptation of IDW’s comic book Locke & Key may finally have its conclusion. For the first time ever, the property has been picked up to series with Netflix ordering 10 hour-long episodes.
Earlier this winter, Netflix acquired the rights to the property from Hulu, who passed on a version of the show in autumn.
That pilot, directed by It helmer Andy Muschetti, is being scrapped, and a whole new cast and creative team are being introduced. They’re once again lead by Lost’s Carlton Cuse, who was on the Hulu pilot, along with show newcomer Meredith Averill, who created the CW series Star-Crossed. Aaron Eli Coleite and original comic writer Joe Hill are also EPs and together wrote the new pilot.
Muschetti, along with his producing partner and sister Barbara, will remain executive producers, though they’re unlikely to be involved in the day to day.
It’s been eight years since the Joe Hill-written, Gabriel Rodríguez-drawn IDW series comic series began its long trek through the Hollywood ringer. The story of three siblings who unravel a mystery about magical keys has had names such as Steven Spielberg and Josh Friedman attached to various iterations of the show, none of which ever got past the pilot stage. (The one produced by Spielberg along with Star Trek writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci starred Mark Pellegrino, Miranda Otto, Jesse McCartney and Nick Stahl, even screened at Comic-Con.)
A few iterations later (including a movie) Muschetti and Cuse took a stab, but ultimately Hulu passed. That’s where Netflix swooped in, removed some parts, kept a few others, and added some of their own.
No word on when we might see Locke & Key on Netflix, but late 2019 or early 2020 seems like a good guess.
Note: Reporter Germain Lussier is personal friends with Averill.