Netflix Reveals Major Change to Locke & Key for New TV Series

Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez’s comic series Locke & Key has had an almost cursed life in its journey to being adapted in live-action. FOX first attempt a TV series with a pilot being produced in 2010, after this failed to be picked up a feature film was announced in 2014 (leading to nothing), and a pilot was produced at Hulu in 2017 where it was ultimately passed over. Now Netflix has their hands on the property and will deliver the full first season in just a few short weeks. To hype it up, the streaming service has released a new video going behind-the-scenes of the adaptation process and with it revealed a major change the show has already made to the source material.

In the pages of the original comic the characters encounter a series of magical keys that offer peculiar and useful magical traits. Among the most popular, and useful, in the series is “The Head Key” which allows for the user to open up not only their own head, but anyone nearby, to literally peek inside their mind as it opens up like a can. From there, users can remove things they no longer want in their head, like bad memories, or even insert information like entire books into their minds.

For the TV series this has been altered, as the video below points out. Head Key users in the Netflix series will see a door/opening reveal itself when the Head Key is being used on them which will then allow them to enter their head. So don’t expect the classic “open head” from the comic to appear in the series. In the end, this change makes the Head Key realized better for live-action storytelling than the original version in the comics. Check it out in action in the player below!

Locke & Key blends elements of horror, fantasy, sci-fi, and family drama into one story. The official synopsis for Netflix’s version of Locke & Key reads:

“After their father is murdered under mysterious circumstances, the three Locke siblings and their mother move into their ancestral home, Keyhouse, which they discover is full of magical keys that may be connected to their father’s death. As the Locke children explore the different keys and their unique powers, a mysterious demon awakens — and will stop at nothing to steal them.”

Locke & Key stars Darby Stanchfield, Jackson Robert Scott, Connor Jessup, Emilia Jones, Bill Heck, Laysla De Oliveira, Sherri Saum, Thomas Mitchell Barnet, Griffin Gluck, and Coby Bird. The series comes from Carlton Cuse and Meredith Averill. Original comic series writer Joe Hill serves as an executive producer on the series. Other executive producers include Aron Eli Coleite, Chris Ryall, Lydia Antoni, Lindsey Springer, Andy Muschietti, Barbara Muschietti, David Alpert, Rick Jacobs, Tim Southam, John Weber, and Frank Siracusa.

Locke & Key will debut on Netflix on February 7th.