What New Keys Will We See On Locke & Key Season 2?
Keyhouse is full of secrets. You didn't really think the old colonial mansion was going to give them all up in one season, did you?
It's only been two months since Locke & Key season 1 introduced us all to the Locke family and their ancestral estate populated by ghosts, demonic echoes, and a plethora of magical keys. The show represents the long-awaited TV adaptation of the iconic comic series of the same name by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez. While the Netflix show has taken some substantial liberties with Hill and Rodriguez's comic, Locke & Key is at its strongest when it marches in lockstep (ha!) with its source material. Perhaps realizing this, showrunners Carlton Cuse and Meredith Averill have taken steps to ensure that the beating heart of the original Locke & Key story remains largely intact.
That story is primarily the tale of three siblings — Tyler (Connor Jessup), Bode (Jackson Robert Scott), and Kinsey (Emilia Jones) — beset by trauma in the wake of their father's death. The trio must uncover the secrets of their family estate in Massachusetts while fighting a clandestine war against a demonic echo who wants to crack open the door between its world and ours. The principal setting where this drama plays out is Keyhouse, a picturesque colonial mansion built on a cliffside overlooking the sea. Inside the house, the Locke siblings begin discovering a set of magical keys that bestow incredible powers on their wielder.
Just over a month after it premiered on Netflix, Locke & Key was renewed for a second season, making it the only show left standing from the original trifecta spawned by the streamer's partnership with indie comic press IDW Publishing. While V Wars and October Faction have both officially been put out to pasture, Locke & Key is powering full steam ahead — which means it's time to speculate about which magical keys may surface when the second season drops some time in the next year or so.
The Animal Key may come roaring into play on Locke & Key season 2
So far, the TV series has dropped new keys into the story at a faster pace than the original comic. Hill and Rodriguez led readers slowly into their twisted, Lovecraftian world — and in the first arc of the comic, the only keys that played a major role were the Death Key, the Anywhere Key, and the Echo Key. In addition to those three staples, the first season of Locke & Key dropped the Music Box Key, the Head Key, the Identity Key (Gender Key in the comic), the Mending Key, the Shadow Key, and even the black Omega Key. The showrunners also introduced a few of their own invented keys that don't appear in the comics — including the fiery Matchstick Key and the Memory Key (the flower that unlocks Duncan's missing memories). That's a whole lot of magical locksmithing for one season of television. It's amazing that there's even anything left to mine from Hill and Rodriguez's comic — but oh, is there ever.
The Animal Key — first introduced in the fourth story arc of the epic comic, entitled Keys to the Kingdom – opens a small door in Keyhouse similar to the Death Door explored in the very first issue. Instead of turning into a ghost, the person who walks through the Animal Door turns into an animal avatar reflective of their inner soul. In one particularly memorable scene from the comic, Bode uses the key to turn into a sparrow and join a massive flock. He's followed through the door by the malevolent Dodge, who turns into — what else? — a wolf. Wolf-Dodge stalks Tyler and Kinsey in the woods outside Keyhouse, only to be thwarted by Bode and his mob of sparrows.
If Locke & Key sees it fit to introduce the Animal Key on season 2, it'll be interesting to discover all the new characters' spirit animals.
The Hercules Key may break through some barriers on Locke & Key season 2
Here's another combat-ready key first introduced in Keys to the Kingdom. Inside the Jester Box in Keyhouse, the Locke siblings discover a treasure trove of keys that their father and his friends use to play around with back in the day. One of those popular keys is shaped like a sword and operates a necklace that bestows its wearer with superhuman strength.
It's known as the Hercules Key, and makes one of its most memorable appearances in Keys to the Kingdom issue #3. After catching his girlfriend Jordan cheating on him with one of his best friends from school, Tyler uses the Hercules Key to get out some aggression. He dons the Hercules Necklace during a high school hockey game and uses his super strength to carve a trail of carnage through the opposing team. Pretty gruesome stuff, but the guy was going through something.
The Hercules Key isn't just a toy, however. The Lockes make use of the super strength it bestows in their existential clash with Dodge. When it falls into the wrong hands during the climactic final battle, the necklace provides Dodge and his possessed minions the edge they need to capture Kinsey and her boyfriend Jamal.
If the TV series' version of the Locke siblings discover the Hercules Key during season 2, perhaps they can use it to gain an edge over Dodge and his/her newest minion, Eden Hawkins (Hallea Jones).
The Timeshift Key may bring the past back to haunt Locke & Key season 2
The Timeshift Key isn't really introduced in the comic until the story's penultimate arc, entitled Clockworks (although we do get a quick glimpse in Head Games issue #2). By the time Tyler and Kinsey discover this particular key in the comic, it isn't exactly their first rodeo. Tyler takes one look at the hourglass on the key and says to his sister, "Time travel, right?" So cynical.
Cynical or not, his instincts are good. The Timeshift Key fits inside an old grandfather clock inside Keyhouse that allows its users to travel back in time to witness past events on the Keyhouse grounds. Tyler and Kinsey use the key to travel back and learn the secret history of Keyhouse, as well as the origin story of the magical keys. One interesting piece of trivia: the Timeshift Key is the only key in the series that Bode never uses.
Obviously, on the TV series, the flashback opportunities that come with this key are nearly endless. It could provide a perfect vehicle for revealing Tyler's father's history with the keys. It could even send Tyler, Kinsey, and Bode back to the American Revolution to witness the origins of Keyhouse and the first discovery of the Omega Door. Interestingly, some of the information revealed to the Locke siblings through the Timeshift Key in the comic has already been doled out via Duncan's memories on Locke & Key.Just why the showrunners made this change is anyone's guess, but there's still plenty of backstory to flesh out through a good old-fashioned time shift.
Joe Hill once told IDW that the Timeshift Key was his favorite key in Keyhouse, so let's hope the TV writers do the original creator a solid and toss it into season 2.
The Alpha Key may be the only weapon that can save the Lockes on Locke & Key season 2
This would be a real coup. Fans of the TV series are already familiar with the black Omega Key, the unfortunate object of Dodge's most sinister designs. The Omega Key, originally hidden inside Rendell Locke's (Mark Pellegrino) head, opens a strange door located deep inside the deadly drowning caves beneath Keyhouse. Potential spoilers for the TV series beyond this point, so read on at your own risk.
On the show, the Locke siblings and their friends open the Omega Door at the end of season 1, and unwittingly toss their friend into whatever bizarre dimension lay beyond. In the comic, that dimension is the home of the Children of Leng, a race of parasitic demon-spawn who want nothing more than to escape their cruel world beyond the Omega Door and latch onto a human soul. Those blue bullets we saw shooting out of the door when the Locke gang opened it? Those were the Children of Leng trying to sink their metaphysical claws into one of the trespassers' souls.
Dodge is but one of the many Children of Leng, and per that mind-boggling final scene from season 1, they now have a partner who escaped from the realm beyond the door and hitched a ride inside of Eden. How are the Locke siblings going to grapple with not one but two demonic soul-hijackers coming after them on season 2? The Alpha Key may hold the, well, key.
In the Locke & Key comics, the Alpha Key contains the power to unlock the Children of Leng from human souls. It's the Locke siblings' most important weapon in their war against Dodge, and its deployment during the final battle is what ultimately turns the tide in the Lockes' favor. There is a pretty significant catch, however: the possessed humans don't survive the unlocking process. Sorry, Eden. How's that for high stakes?
Long story short: there are still a lot of exciting keys for the Lockes to discover in Keyhouse. We'll have to wait until the series returns to Netflix in 2021 to find out just which ones the writers decide their heroes need.