The long-awaited Fox adaptation of popular comic book Locke & Key crossed two thresholds today, landing both a leading lady and a prospective director. Miranda Otto is set to star in the role of Nina Locke, mother of three and heiress of the Locke household. Relative newcomer Mark Romanek is in negotiations to be the series director.
Otto will be most familiar to Screen Rant readers as Eowyn, the Rohan princess in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. She’s also had notable parts in the 2005 adaptation of War of the Worlds and failed USA comedy/drama The Starter Wife. Romanek has cut his teeth on music videos and documentaries, but earlier in 2010 he directed the indie film adaptation of Never Let Me Go to generally positive reviews.
According to Variety, Sarah Connor Chronicles creator and War of the Worlds co-writer Josh Friedman is penning the pilot. Producers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (Star Trek, Transformers 2) have stayed on since the project transitioned to a TV series from a feature film.
For the uninitiated, Locke & Key follows the lives of a single mother (Otto) and her three children as they encounter strange and terrifying events in their family mansion of Keyhouse in the fictional town of Lovecraft, Massachusetts. The comics have been consistent sellers, and themes of transformation and psychological horror have been crowd pleasers. Locke & Key is still in circulation with more than half of the currently planned story arcs yet to be published. No doubt the issue/arc relationship helped the decision to make this a television series instead of a film, with episodes and seasons providing a similar pacing and plot. The series has earned author Joe Hill the 2009 British Fantasy Award for best graphic novel.
As excited as fans are for the series, it remains to be seen if the impressive character development and Lovecraftian horror of the graphic novel will translate well to television. Fox may have been bolstered by the recent success of AMC’s The Walking Dead, also a comic book adaptation, but producers of The Walking Dead are quick to point out their dedication to the source material, a move that has clearly resonated with fans of the comics. Here’s hoping that Fox treats Locke & Key better than some of their other sci-fi/fantasy properties – just ask your nearest Dollhouse or Fringe fan for some real horror stories.
Source: Deadline Holywood 1, 2, Variety
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