Netflix has called time on supernatural drama series Locke and Key.
As first reported by Deadline, the show, which began streaming in 2020, will end with its upcoming third season, expected to premiere later this year.
An adaptation of Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez's fantasy comic book series, Locke and Key follows a trio of siblings – Kinsey (CODA’s Emilia Jones), Tyler (Connor Jessup) and Bode (Jackson Robert Scott) – who, after their father’s murder, move to their ancestral home, a mysterious manor filled with locked doors and magical keys.
We already knew that the show would be returning for a third season – Netflix filmed seasons 2 and 3 back-to-back in 2020 – but it was, until now, unclear whether Locke and Key would be renewed for further entries.
The good news, though, is that a three-season run aligned with the ambitions of the series’ showrunners, Carlton Cuse and Meredith Averill, who said in a statement that it was “the ideal length to bring the story of the Locke family and their Keyhouse adventures to a satisfying conclusion.”
“As storytellers,” the pair continued, “we are grateful that we had the opportunity to tell our version of Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez’s incredible story exactly the way we wanted. We’re keeping the magical keys, though, for our own personal use.”
In truth, Locke and Key fans should be grateful the show exists at all. Hill and Rodriguez’s comic series was first floated as a feature film, before being picked up – and then swiftly dropped – by Fox in 2010. The idea then morphed back into a movie at Universal that, again, failed to materialize, leaving Hulu to pick up the pieces in 2018.
Hulu, though, didn’t take the show beyond a pilot episode, opening the door for Netflix, which redeveloped and recast Locke and Key into a full series that ultimately debuted in 2020.
It’s cutting season at Netflix
Locke and Key isn’t the only popular series Netflix is waving goodbye to in 2022.
Archive 81, in our opinion one of the best shows on Netflix, was recently canceled by the streamer after just one season. The horror-style drama, which debuted on Netflix at the start of 2022, had drawn good reviews from critics, earning an 86% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Sci-fi series Another Life has also found its head on the chopping block this year, along with beloved comedy Grace and Frankie and the exceptionally well-received The Baby-Sitters Club.
All things considered, Locke and Key should count itself lucky it survived as long as it did. Despite being well received among critics and audiences, the show rarely broke into Netflix’s list of most popular shows, and the streamer has historically preferred to cull low performers after just two seasons (see The OA, Sense 8, Altered Carbon, The Order…).
Fans should be grateful, then, that Netflix opted to film the show’s final two entries back-to-back – even if we will be sad to see the back of the Locke family.
