Since 2008, Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez have crafted the unique world of Locke & Key, creating the IDW Publishing comic book series and serving as executive producers on the acclaimed Netflix adaptation of their fantasy horror story. As the show returns for Season 2, the Locke family faces foes seeking to obtain their magical keys. During a roundtable interview attended by CBR and other press outlets, Hill and Rodriguez discussed how happy they are with the adaptation’s success. The duo praised the cast and crew for bringing their vision to life in a series that blends murderous mayhem with supernatural glee.
Hill complimented the creative team behind Netflix‘s Loke & Key adaptation for blending fantasy and horror so well — especially in light of the television series being renewed for a third season before Season 2 premiered. “We have an ace development team in Carlton Cuse and Meredith Averill and the writers’ room is like the 1927 Yankees,” Hill said. “They’re all killers, every single one of them. We wound up with an incredible cast across the board. Even the soundtrack — I know I’m biased but — I think Torin Borrowdale composed a soundtrack on the same level as the Harry Potter soundtrack! It hits all the right tones and is whimsical and scary. The adaptation is its own creature. I love it absolutely as it is.”
Rodriguez agreed with Hill, adding, “I think all the delays of the previous attempts for an adaptation were the right thing to happen in order to get the property landing in the right hands at the right moment. We have the best possible creative team in charge of the show, the same way that IDW Publishing allows us to tell the story the best way possible in the comic book form, Netflix is allowing the producers to tell the story in the best possible way for a TV show with these characters and the quality.”
Rodriguez praised the show’s use of the Small World Key and loved how it was brought to life in a live-action format. Hill explained that the Small World Key was something of a nod to noted science fiction and horror author Richard Matheson, in addition to naming Locke & Key‘s primary small-town setting after him. Hill added that the Small World Key also alludes to his mother Tabitha King’s first novel Small World, crediting his mother for teaching him as much about storytelling as his father Stephen King. With Hill and Rodriguez still hard at work at the Locke & Key comic, CBR asked if the television series informed their continued comic book work and shed new insight on the world they created.
“I think of them as fraternal twins, the show and the comic,” Hill said. “They each have their personality and way of walking and talking, but I feel like they’re close to one another and in constant conversation with each other. The example that I give is I did a bunch of writing for the first season, and I had this idea for the Matchstick Key, which was thrown into the show. That wasn’t in the comic… So we put it in the comic… We retroactively made it canon. The two stories are a cat’s cradle together of narrative. It’s fun to see them play off each other.”
Rodriguez revealed that he and Hill always knew, even from the adaptation’s earlier attempts, that the two stories would be noticeably different from each other but felt, as executive producers on the television series, “there is a lot of creative landscape to explore.” Rodriguez also observed that the series gives him and Hill an entirely new creative perspective on their story, with the show able to expand on elements that the comic can’t. Rodriguez called the opportunity “incredibly fun and rewarding” and applauded the cast and crew for making this possible.
After Season 1’s success, Rodriguez noted that Locke & Key‘s creative team leaned into how they wanted the series to go in Season 2. Now that the adaptation has established its universe, the show can double down on the stakes and drama moving forward. Hill added that Locke & Key Season 2 is darker than the preceding season and more dynamically showcases its keys.
Hill noted that both stories showcase that “there must be sacrifices” when facing off against evil. Hill added, “A story has to play for keeps; otherwise, the menaces aren’t menacing.” Rodriguez underscored that “mistakes have consequences.”
When discussing Locke & Key‘s magical keys, Hill and Rodriguez expressed a preference for the Anywhere Key. However, Hill is intrigued by the possibilities offered by the Ghost Key, revealing that he was interested in the concept of astral projection ever since he was a boy. Rodriguez felt that the Time Shift Key would be beneficial to him as an artist but also noted that the Head Key offers interesting possibilities from a creative standpoint.
Rodriguez saw Keyhouse as one of Locke & Key‘s main characters and put a lot of thought into designing the Locke family’s ancestral home. Rodriguez praised the show’s crew in bringing Keyhouse into tangible reality and functionality to film around its physical location.
CBR then closed out the roundtable asking if a television crossover between Locke & Key and The Sandman would be possible since both properties are being adapted by Netflix and have already crossed over in the world of comics.
“You never say never but, as a Sandman fan, my feeling is that I want to see Neil Gaiman’s Sandman stories,” Hill said. “That’s what everyone wants, so my instinct is no. The two have had this nice moment where they got to hold hands in the comic books.”
Hill continued, “We had so much fun with it and, if DC and Neil certainly seem willing, it’s always possible that there might be another Locke & Key story in the comics that explores some of the outer corners of the Sandman Universe. Specifically, I would like to do another story, if for any other reason, to explain why the two universes overlapped in the 1920s but don’t by the time we get to Kinsey, Tyler, and Bode because Kinsey, Tyler, and Bode do not exist in a universe with Batman and Superman. But it is clear that Roderick Burgess is in a universe with Superman and Batman. There’s a story in my head that explains why those two universes split apart and we need to do another Mary Locke story to tell that.”
“I would say that DC Comics has allowed Sandman to become what it is throughout time by giving their creators time to tell their story in the best possible way, the same way IDW Publishing allowed us to make Locke & Key as good of a comic book story as we could and they gave us time to develop it,” Rodriguez stated. “It took us six volumes of Locke & Key and ten years to develop a world and idea for a worthy enough story to tell with them [both]. I think, in a way, Netflix is creating an environment to give Locke & Key and Sandman the best possible versions of themselves and whatever happens after that, it’s up to them. But they are up for making the best engaging and fun storytelling possible. I would say let’s let the future tell us the answer to that but I think that both properties are in great hands — both in publishers and streaming.”
“I am excited by Netflix’s commitment to the horror genre,” Hill noted. “I think [Netflix has] the two most important works in horror, in terms of TV in this century, you’ve got Mike Flanagan’s The Haunting of Hill House and Midnight Mass — both raising the bar in terms of what’s possible in the horror genre and expanding that canvas. Now you’ve got Netflix releasing Scott Cavendish’s The Splattering, which is poised to do the same, starring Kinsey Locke and is just going to elevate the whole genre.”
Developed for television by Carlton Cuse, Meredith Averill and Aron Eli Coleite, Locke & Key Season 2 is available to stream on Netflix.
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