Locke And Key To Become A Trilogy For Universal

Fans of the IDW comics ‘Locke and Key’ have almost lost all hope of ever seeing their beloved series brought to life, but it looks like Universal is giving the project another chance as it has bought the rights to the comic series and is planning to turn it into a feature film trilogy.

Last year, Fox had actually filmed a pilot for this project which was directed by Mark Romanek. The network execs, however, passed on giving it a series order thinking the show was too costly to make. Alex Kurtman and Roberto Orci, who wrote the teleplay for the pilot and are currently penning ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ sequel, were producers on ‘Locke and Key’ and decided to try and shop it to other networks. Syfy had showed some interest in developing the project into a series but ultimately passed. Even MTV got into the mix last September but ‘Locke and Key’ never moved forward.

Now it looks like Universal will be taking the comic series that was created by the son of Stephen King, Joe Hill (‘Horns’), and give big screen treatment. Orci and Kurtzman will stay on as producers and will also scribe the screenplay for the films.

The official synopsis of the ‘Locke and Key’ comic series states that it is the tale of “Keyhouse, an unlikely New England mansion, with fantastic doors that transform all who dare to walk through them…. and home to a hate-filled and relentless creature that will not rest until it forces open the most terrible door of them all…” While that may seem like a very vague description of the story, ‘Locke and Key’ boasts 5 volumes to its name so there is plenty of material the writers can use for a trilogy.

No word as to who will direct the first film but if you’re curious as to what might have been, below is a trailer for the ill-fated Fox pilot.

‘Locke and Key’ is still very much in the development phase but we’ll keep you updated when more news about the trilogy comes in.