Netflix’s Locke & Key Series Casts Sherri Saum
The Locke & Key TV series project has had a rough time, but its troubles finally appear to be over, thanks to Netflix.
Back in July 2016, THR revealed that Hulu gave the show adaptation of writer Joe Hill’s IDW horror comic book series a pilot order, with Carlton Cuse (Lost) set to serve as showrunner. Auspiciously, Andy Muschietti (It, Mama) was on tap to direct the pilot after Doctor Strange‘s Scott Derrickson had to withdraw.
Unfortunately, after all that, Hulu passed on the project! However, Netflix eventually came in for the rescue… even if said rescue involved scrapping Hulu’s pilot. Regardless, the Locke & Key TV series is finally happening, officially greenlit as a 10-episode series for Netflix!
Locke & Key Cast
Locke & Key has scooped up The Fosters star Sherri Saum. According to TVLine, Saum will play Ellie Whedon, “a teacher at Matheson Academy who has a mysterious history with the Locke family.”
Netflix has revealed, via Deadline, the young cast who will portray the Locke siblings in the streaming giant’s reworked version of the Locke & Key TV series.
Connor Jessup (American Crime, Falling Skies) will play Tyler Locke, who, as a teenager, is the oldest of the siblings.
Emilia Jones (Wolf Hall, Utopia) will play Kinsey Locke.
Jackson Robert Scott (It – as Georgie Denbrough) was previously added, set to play the youngest of the trio, Bode Locke. Interestingly, Scott was cast as Bode in the nixed Hulu iteration and, for now, stands as the only cast member confirmed for retention by Netflix.
While the streaming giant rescued the wayward project, the move involved crucial caveats: Netflix’s series order came with the confirmation that Locke & Key will go back to the drawing board, re-casting while redeveloping the scripts, essentially scrapping the Hulu pilot, which starred Frances O’Connor and was directed by It helmer Andy Muschietti (who’s too busy with the sequel to handle the mulligan).
Interestingly, Netflix is opting to keep the Hulu iteration’s creative fulcrum, Joe Hill, who remains onboard as creator/writer/executive producer. The same goes for showrunner Carlton Cuse, known from Lost, The Strain, Bates Motel and Amazon’s upcoming Jack Ryan series. Cuse is now joined in that capacity by Meredith Averill, who’s worked on Jane the Virgin, Star-Crossed and The Good Wife, along with Netflix’s upcoming TV series horror reboot The Haunting of Hill House.
Of course, there’s another failed Locke & Key TV endeavors that predate Hulu’s version.
In 2016, IDW Entertainment released news that Locke & Key writer Joe Hill (he wrote the story for the comics, with art by Gabriel Rodriguez) was on board to write the pilot and executive produce the TV show adaptation as a straight-to-series project. It’s unclear how Hulu and Cuse’s involvement might change that plan, but Hill had previously said in a statement:
I love this story. The seven years I spent working on Locke & Key was the happiest creative experience of my life, and there still isn’t a day when I don’t think about those characters and miss visiting with them. The six books of the series are very like six seasons of a cable TV series, and so it feels only natural to bring that world to the little screen and to see if we can’t scare the pants off viewers everywhere.
Locke & Key begins with the story of three siblings returning to their family’s ancestral home following the brutal and mysterious murder of their father. As they explore the house and its surroundings, it becomes clear that there are wonderful and terrible things lurking on the grounds. It is a comic book horror classic.
Previously, a TV show adaptation made it all the way to the pilot stage, but never garnered a pick-up. The TV adaptation had Josh Friedman as a showrunner (The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Avatar 2) and an all-star cast that included Miranda Otto, Sarah Bolger, and Ksenia Solo. Check out the trailer…
Sadly, this version of Locke & Key never made it past a pilot, but the pop culture world seems better poised to embrace an onscreen version of this horror comic now. Not only are there way more comic book adaptations on TV and film, but Joe Hill has attained a better industry foothold, especially with the recent film adaptaion of Horns. Hopefully, the Netflix adaptation is good and garners enough of an audience to ensure its continuation. Universe, you owe us this.
Joseph Baxter is a contributor for Den of Geek and Syfy Wire. You can find his work here. Follow him on Twitter @josbaxter.
