Carlton Cuse knows it’s been a long time coming to finally getting “Locke and Key” to the screen, describing the journey as a “long, circuitous and sometimes tortuous process.”
The streaming giant picked up the project, based on the IDW Publishing comic book franchise of the same name, last month for a 10-episode order after Hulu passed on the pilot. “Locke and Key” was stuck in development hell for the better part of this decade, having first been a part of Fox’s 2010-11 development slate, which Cuse was not involved with. As with Hulu, “Locke and Key” did not make it past the pilot stage.
“I really believe at the end of the day we’re going to make something really cool,” Cuse, who serves as co-showrunner on the upcoming Netflix series, tells TheWrap. “We really embraced Netflix’s vision.”
Written by Joe Hill, “Locke & Key” is a horror/fantasy series that revolves around three siblings who, after the gruesome murder of their father, move to their ancestral home in Massachusetts only to find the house has magical keys that give them a vast array of powers and abilities. Little do they know, a devious demon also wants the keys, and will stop at nothing to attain them.
“I think each network has their own take on it,” Cuse continued. “We really enjoyed our development process at Hulu and the creative team was really enthusiastic about the show. It was sad that it was sort of overruled from up on high.”
The show will be almost completely retooled for Netflix, with a new cast and director. “It” director Andy Muschietti helmed the pilot for Hulu, but he’s been busy working on a sequel to the Stephen King horror film. “They had some very specific ideas about what they wanted in their version of the show,” said Cuse.
But will that version include anything from the pilot that was developed under Hulu? Cuse had a one-word answer for that: “No.”
He did add, however, that they may keep “a couple of actors” but that the show is essentially brand new. Cuse and Hill are still on board, but they will be joined by Meredith Averill as co-showrunner and Aron Eli Coleite as a writer and executive producer.
“A lot of lessons have been learned by what’s happened in the past and I think we’re going to put those all to good use in making the version we’re going to make for Netflix,” said Cuse.