Why Locke & Key's New Teacher Looks So Familiar
When Rendell Locke (Mark Pellegrino) is murdered in cold blood by former student Sam Lesser (Thomas Mitchell Barnet), the Locke family decides to move as far away from the scene of the crime as possible. Luckily, Rendell's family home of Keyhouse, located in the fictional Matheson, Massachusetts, is plenty roomy. The children, naturally, explore their new home right away. They quickly find keys lying about — magical keys, as it turns out. What's more, the keys seem to be tied to Rendell's death ... as well as a demon (Laysla De Oliveira) who wants them for itself.
That's the premise of Netflix's aptly titled supernatural horror drama Locke & Key, based on the comic of the same name by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodríguez. Season 1 was fairly well received by fans and critics alike, and though it ends on a relatively high note, there are undoubtedly many mysteries yet to be solved and keys yet to be found come season 2 (COVID-19 production delays pending). Since season 1 covers most of the comics' storyline, the events to come are anyone's guess.
One thing that requires no educated guessing is season 2's updated cast (via CBR). Two recurring actors from the first season, Haella Jones and Aaron Ashmore, will now be regulars on the series. A completely new character will be added as well: Josh Bennett, a history teacher played by Brendan Hines. If he seems familiar to you, it's because Hines has been around the Hollywood block. Here's where you may have seen him before.
Brendan Hines donned a cape in The Tick
There's no question that the past two decades have been the age of superheroes in Hollywood; the first X-Men film really kicked things off, and Avengers: Endgame marked the end of the beginning. With plenty more super-movies on the way, it's only natural that some people are starting to feel the effects of superhero burnout. That's not to say that all superhero content is the same, but the constant influx can get tiresome at a certain point.
That's where a show like The Tick comes in. Based on the comics of the same name by Ben Edlund, The Tick makes a habit of flipping superhero tropes on their heads for comedy's sake. The performances are a particular highlight, Hines' included. He plays Superian, an obvious Superman parody who believes he saved the world from its greatest threat — the Terror — years ago. When it's revealed that the Terror is alive and kicking, Superian suffers for it.
Dealing with failure on the public forum of social media is something with which celebrities deal every day, and what are superheroes but celebrities? Superian does everything he can to escape the Internet's bloodhounds, but in spite of all his powers, the world has a way of getting to him. He looks to Arthur Everest (Griffin Newman) as a therapist of sorts — an open admission of his discomfort. It's funny in a sad sort of way, and Hines really sells that balance well.
Brendan Hines learned to read people on Lie to Me
When it comes to television police procedurals, there's no supplanting the likes of Law and Order or CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (or either series' spin-offs), making it difficult for new endeavors in the genre to gain any sort of traction. Once in a while, though, a series stands out, either for the uniqueness of its premise or just how well it's done. Lie to Me has a bit of both.
The story follows the members of the Lightman Group, an organization dedicated to using applied psychology to assist crime investigations. From body language to microexpressions, Lightman employees need to be able to identify things on which normal people wouldn't pick up. Some of its agents, like Ria Torres (Monica Raymund), are naturals at the process — others, like Hines' Eli Loker, had to work hard to be good at what they do.
Loker adheres to what's known as Radical Honesty, essentially meaning he almost never resorts to lying — not even on the smallest of scales. While this is admirable, it's often a source of tension between him and others — as they say, the truth hurts. It causes him to reveal sensitive information to another group at one point, despite the warnings of his superior Dr. Gillian Foster (Kelli Williams). At the end of the day, though, Loker does pretty well for himself, becoming the vice president of Lightman.
It's too bad Lie to Me was cancelled after three seasons. Playing such an intensely honest character is a rare opportunity for any actor, and Hines proved he could make it work.
Brendan Hines has had small roles on big shows
Hines' face has peppered a number of Hollywood productions for years, mostly on the small-screen side of the spectrum. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles marks the first in the long line of Hines' minor appearances, though his character Andy Goode has a major impact on the universe as the creator of "Turk," the AI that would become Skynet. He also appears in an episode of Castle, filmed around the same time that Lie to Me was wrapping up.
Later on, Hines played recurring character Gideon Wallace on Scandal, the extraordinarily popular Washington, D.C.-based political thriller. He doesn't last long, though — not because of any wrongdoing on Hines' part, but because Wallace is a snooping reporter, and certain information he obtains makes him a threat, leading to his murder. Hines' other recurring roles include Aidan in Betrayal, Logan Sanders in Suits, and Drew Dineen in Scorpion.
Aside from Locke and Key, Hines' next appearance will actually be on the big screen — and in a lead role, no less. He's set to play John Burke in the upcoming Do Not Disturb, a pandemic film that's sure to hit close to home in the midst of COVID-19. Once this epidemic is over and Hollywood gets back on track, seeing more of Hines would be a pleasure.