Gear up for your next Halloween marathon watch with Netflix’s Locke & Key. The show, based on the Eisner Award-winning graphic novel of the same name by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodríguez, is back for a second season. And unlike the titular Locke family, you don’t need a litany of keys to figure out its mysteries.

After several false starts, including a failed pilot, Locke & Key was successfully adapted by Netflix and streamed in 2020. Despite an uneven start, the show picked up pace and ended with a twist that surprised everyone—even the readers of the graphic novels. The show has already been renewed for a third season, even before the 10 episodes of Season 2 have aired.

Now that the series is back for another round, let’s take a look back at who the characters are and what we can look forward to in the upcoming season.

RELATED: Battle Lines Are Drawn and New Keys Forged in 'Locke and Key' Season 2 Trailer

Who Are the Characters?

Emilia Jones as Kinsey Locke, Connor Jessup as Ben Locke, and Jackson Robert Scott as Bode Locke.
Emilia Jones as Kinsey Locke, Connor Jessup as Ben Locke, and Jackson Robert Scott as Bode Locke. (Image via Netflix)

The main characters of Locke & Key are the Locke family. Connor Jessup stars as the oldest Locke sibling, Tyler, along with Emilia Jones as Kinsey, Jackson Robert Scott as Bode and Darby Stanchfield as their mother Nina. Griffin Gluck and Laysla De Oliveira will star as Gabe and Dodge. Aaron Ashmore and Hallea Jones have both been promoted to series regulars and will return to play Uncle Duncan Locke and Kinsey’s frenemy Eden, respectively.

Among the supporting cast, Petrice Jones, Asha Bromfield, and Jesse Camacho return as the Locke siblings’ friends Scot Cavendish, Zadie Wells and Doug Brazelle. Bill Heck will appear as Rendell Locke, Coby Bird reprises his role as neighbor Rufus Whedon, and Thomas Mitchell Barnett will be back as Sam Lesser.

Brendan Hines will be a new series regular, playing Josh Bennett, while Liyuo Abere will guest star as Jamie Bennett. Leishe Meyboom has been added to the cast, but there’s no information on who her character Abby is. As seen in the trailer, Kevin Durand is a new member of the cast, as well. He’s credited as playing a character called Frederick Gideon who appears to be a soldier in the 18th century storyline.

As of now, it doesn’t look like Sherri Saum will reprise her role as Ellie Whedon, the Locke’s neighbour and Rufus’ adoptive mother. Genevieve Kang’s return as Tyler’s girlfriend Jackie Veda also seems unlikely.

Season One Recap

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Image via Netflix

The Locke family were living a happy life in Seattle when Sam Lesser broke into their home and killed patriarch Rendell. His wife Nina, who had struggled with alcoholism, recovered from being shot in the leg, but Tyler saw his father die in front of him, while his sister Kinsey and little brother Bode hid from Sam.

Still grieving, Nina decided to move the family to Rendell’s ancestral home in the small town of Matheson. Rendell’s brother Duncan greeted the family but he didn’t stick around. The grandeur of Keyhouse distracted the children from their trauma for a little while, but they did reckon with their loss throughout the first season. While Nina renovated Keyhouse, she became friendly with Ellie Whedon, one of the last surviving connections to Rendell’s past.

Along the way, all three siblings, Tyler, Kinsey and Bode, made friends in Matheson and discovered something peculiar about their new home. Keyhouse is littered with magical keys, each with its own unique power. While the children explored each key’s power, they unwittingly unlocked a grave danger to the world. Bode accidentally awakened Dodge, a demon from another realm, who then began her own search for the Keyhouse keys.

Dodge was on the search for the Omega Key, which would unlock the door to the realm that she came from. Since she couldn’t search for it herself, she manipulated Sam Lesser into helping her. It was on her urging that he killed Rendell. Lesser’s efforts led to nought. Instead, he became trapped as a ghost on the Keyhouse grounds.

Dodge tried every trick in the book to convince the Locke children to hand over the keys—from seducing Tyler to scaring the Locke children into helping her. However, she didn’t win most of those battles. Finally, Dodge used the Identity Key to turn into Lucas Caravaggio (Felix Mallard), Rendell’s old friend and Ellie’s great love. Lucas/Dodge forced Ellie to get as many keys as she could, but when that plan failed, Dodge turned to murder. Ellie and her son Rufus had to take Lucas down, but not before the Locke children learned the truth about Keyhouse’s sordid past.

When Rendell was a teenager, he introduced his friends to the magical keys. But his obsession with unlocking the Black Door led to an unfortunate incident—a demon escaped and latched onto Lucas, turning a kind, sweet boy into the embodiment of evil. Lucas killed two of their friends before another friend, Erin, and Rendell killed Lucas. They concocted the story of their friends drowning and divided the keys among themselves. They hid the secret until Rendell’s death. One friend, Mark Cho, killed himself to keep the secret of the keys, while Erin was brain damaged and in hospital. Ellie was the last friend standing, but she struggled with losing Lucas. She summoned his spirit, but instead got Dodge the demon. And Dodge waited until someone could help her escape—which turned out to be Bode who handed her the Anywhere Key.

All throughout the first season, Kinsey became close to nerdy classmate Gabe, who seemed innocuous. In the season finale, the Locke siblings and their friends captured Dodge and pushed her into the demon realm, but what they didn’t realize was that Dodge had swapped bodies with Ellie. While Ellie was trapped behind the Black Door, Dodge was hiding in plain sight as Gabe. While shutting the door, the children’s friend Eden was attacked by one of the demons, but nobody noticed it except for Gabe/Dodge. The season ended with Gabe/Dodge and Eden meeting up and hatching a new plan for world domination.

What to Expect in Season 2

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Image via Netflix

The second season of the show looks to be a departure from the original source material. Since Dodge is still alive and is pretending to be Kinsey’s boyfriend Gabe, the story will take a turn for the worst. It looks like Gabe is going to have a larger role as the villain—Dodge was the primary villain in Season 1. And since Eden was accidentally possessed by a demon in the finale, she’s going to be mentored by Gabe. Dodge/Gabe are now a step closer to taking over the world.

Nina has witnessed some of the magic in Keyhouse, but like all adults, she soon forgets about them. But it’s obvious she’s aware of the mysterious circumstances surrounding her family’s life in Keyhouse. In the books, Rendell and his friends found a way to retain their memories of magic, so will Nina uncover the same trick in Season 2?

The older Locke siblings, Tyler and Kinsey, are inching closer to becoming adults, which means they’ll begin losing their ability to see magic as well. That’s something that the characters will need to grapple with while they discover more keys and their origins. It looks like the children’s interest in the keys could lead to more dangerous elements entering their world.

From the trailer, we learn that Duncan’s memories will be restored, so he will need to cope with his past and the reality of Keyhouse’s magic. In the books, Duncan is in a loving relationship with his long-time boyfriend Brian Rogan, so one assumes Brian will make an appearance on the show at some point. The series has only alluded to queer representation so far, with a few mentions of Brian.

The executive producers have mentioned that the second season will explore the lore of the graphic novels. We saw a glimpse of this in the trailer, as the 18th century revolutionaries face down some magic. In the original graphic novels, Benjamin Locke, the progenitor of the Locke family created the first of the magical keys—the Omega Key—back in the 1700s. But it’s unclear whether Benjamin will be appearing as early as Season 2.

Finally, it looks like more keys will be forged and darker magic will rise in Season 2.

Explaining the Keys

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Image via Netflix

The key (pardon the pun) to much of the plot in Locke & Key is down to the magical keys that the Locke family, and the villains, use throughout the series. All one needs to do is to insert a magical key into a door to activate it. Here are the keys that were introduced in the first season.

Anywhere Key – This key gives the owner the ability to travel anywhere in the world. The only catch is that they need to envision their destination in their mind.

Echo Key – By using this key, a person can summon an echo of someone who has died. However, though the person is tangible, they can only move through the world using the Anywhere Key.

Ghost Key – This is one of the few keys that can only be used on a specific door. The Ghost Key can only work on the Ghost door, which is located in the winter study in Keyhouse. Whoever uses the key becomes a ghost, but they don’t die. However, if the door is closed while they’re in ghost form, they’re stuck wandering the grounds of Keyhouse, unseen by humanity.

Head Key – This key lets you literally go inside another person’s head. The inside of the user’s mind usually looks like their favorite place, like an arcade or their previous home. One can add and subtract elements from the mind using this key as well. For example, Duncan’s memories were removed and Kinsey removed her fear, while Tyler added books in his head to learn faster.

Identity Key – One of the major departures from the graphic novels was swapping the Gender and Skin Keys for the Identity Key. This key lets you take on a whole new identity, which explains the existence of Lucas’ alternate identities, Dodge and Gabe.

Matchstick Key – This was also a key created exclusively for the show. The key sets anything it comes into contact with on fire. Unlike most of the other keys, however, it can be used on any object to set it alight.

Mending Key – A very convenient key to have. The Mending Key must be used on the Mending Cabinet to work. Any object placed inside the cabinet and then unlocked with the Mending Key will be repaired. However, this magic only works on objects, not people, as Nina found out when she tried to use it on Rendell’s urn in Season 1.

Mirror Key – Another key that was made for the show, the Mirror Key works on both doors and mirrors. This is a dangerous key since the user is beckoned into a maze of mirrors and reflections that are easy to get lost in.

Music Box Key – This key needs to be inserted into a specific music box to work. Once inserted, the user can control whoever they want and compel them to do their bidding.

Omega Key - The Omega Key opens and closes the Black Door, which is the portal to a hell-like dimension that is full of demons like Dodge.

Plant or Thorn Key – This key can be used to control all flora. A keyhole manifests on plants when the key is active, allowing the user control. The Locke children discovered Duncan’s lost memories, which were hidden within tree roots, by using this key.

Shadow Key – This key activates the Crown of Shadows, giving the wearer of the crown power to control the shadows (demons) from the other realm.

More Keys? – The graphic novels feature several more magical keys like the Angel Key (which gives the user wings to fly), the Giant Key, Timeshift Key, and many more. In the Season 2 trailer, Bode locates the Dollhouse Key which bends reality inside Keyhouse. We also see Gabe and Eden forging a key with a skull head. It looks like an evil version of the Ghost Key but it could be something entirely different. We can look forward to even more keys making their debut next season.

Locke & Key Season 2 will premiere on Friday, October 22nd on Netflix.

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