Locke & Key May Still Have A Slim Chance

MTV sniffing around the TV series that Fox rejected

SFX – and many others – were stunned and disappointed when the Fox network decided not to pick up Locke & Key as a series. The haunted house show, based on a comic book by Stephen King’s son Joe Hill, looked very promising and a bit different to the vampire/werewolf/witch diaries formula that’s flavour of the month for teen-orientated at the moment.

But there could be hope. Only a glimmer, but hope.

Deadline reports that the companies making the show (which, ironically, includes 20th Century Fox along with K/O Paper Products and DreamWorks TV) shopped it to other networks. Syfy initially expressed an interest but ultimately turned it down. The studio, faced with mounting costs of keeping the production alive, decided to pull the plug on the thriller, letting the actors’ options to expire. At that seemed to be that.

But then, says the article, “IDW, the publisher of the Locke & Key comic, organised a screening of the pilot at Comic-Con in July, followed by a panel discussion with executive producers Friedman, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. And last month, a trailer for the show, presumably cut by Fox in the run-up to the upfronts, leaked online and went viral. Also last month, a DVD of the pilot was given to MTV programming chief David Janollari. I hear he liked it but is yet to meet with the Locke & Key producers, so there has been no real conversation between the two sides.”

All we can say is, get video conferencing now! MTV has just had a massive success with Teen Wolf , so cross fingers it’s in the mood for splashing out on another fantasy show.

Dave is a TV and film journalist who specializes in the science fiction and fantasy genres. He's written books about film posters and post-apocalypses, alongside writing for SFX Magazine for many years.