Locke & Key Comic Creators Reveal the Inspiration Behind the Small World Key

Locke & Key returned to Netflix for its second season on October 22nd, 2021, and it introduced a whole host of new keys for the Locke kids to use to unlock unnatural forces at Keyhouse, a mansion that the family has taken care of for over 200 years. In a fun twist of storytelling, the Netflix version of the mansion is located in Matheson, Massachusetts, a nod to the great horror writer Richard Matheson (I Am Legend). Even though the Netflix adaptation of Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez’s popular comic series of the same name already introduced many of the keys from the comics, the second season surprised fans by introducing a magical key from the Locke & Key tie-in issue released three years after the original series had ended, the Small World Key.

Locke & Key series co-creators Carlton Cuse and Meredith Averill had many discussions between themselves and with the other writers to decide on which keys the Locke family would find in the show’s sophomore season. In deciding which keys to use this season, Cuse told Comics Beat during a Netflix roundtable event that:

“I think the audience really wants to know: where did these keys come from, how did they get here, who else has used them, what else has happened with them? Meredith and I really tried to answer those questions in season 2, and on into season 3.”

One of the biggest surprises of season 2 was the incorporation of the Small World key, which was first introduced to Locke & Key comic book readers in Locke & Key: Small World by storytellers Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez, with colors by Jay Fotos and letters by Robbie Robbins. When the Small World key is used to unlock the dollhouse-sized version of Keyhouse, the figures within move about as if alive so that the key’s user can locate anyone within Keyhouse’s walls and see what they’re doing. In the comics, the children immediately note that the key is great for blackmail, and use the key to play practical jokes on their family. However, after the Locke children accidentally leave the dollhouse unlocked, a Black Widow spider crawls into the home to make her nest.

Although the key’s origins are somewhat different in the show, the Small World key is brought to life in the second season of Locke & Key on Netflix, providing viewers with “one of the funniest visual approach for storytelling itself,” according to Rodriguez. Excitingly, the creator said that the new supernatural key may have an impact on the third season too, adding, “We know what the creators of the show have tried to do with this piece of the story, and it’s going to be awesome!”

One of the delights of season two was seeing the dollhouse key pulled into the action. https://t.co/dk5epn95Pipic.twitter.com/HE7OycQJvw

— Joe Hill (@joe_hill) October 22, 2021

In the interview with The Beat, Hill also commented on the inspiration behind the key, saying:

“Richard Matheson is one of the great sort of godfathers of this genre. Of course, Incredible Shrinking Man, the effects – the guy fighting the spider, he’s got a needle and thimble, doesn’t he?

Of course, even going all the way back to the comic, the Small World comic was in part my way of paying honor to Matheson’s work and having fun, riffing on his imagination.

The other thing is, you know – Stephen King is my dad, and he gets a lot of attention, but my mother is also a remarkable writer. Tabitha King is a terrific writer, and her first novel was Small World, about a woman who is shrunk down and lives in a dollhouse, and the comic and the TV show are both also honoring that as well. I’ve learned just as much as a storyteller from my mom as from my dad.”

Apparently the reference to his mother’s work almost made it into the series as well, with the famous writer tweeting about a scene that didn’t make it into the final cut of season 2, Uncle Duncan (Aaron Ashmore) reading Tabitha’s work on a sandy shore. Hill followed up in another tweet, saying, “The stone cold best moment from #lockeandkey season 2 that *didn’t* get into the show. Not only is Uncle Dunc a stout-hearted hero… he’s also got predictably great taste in literature.”

The stone cold best moment from #lockeandkey season 2 that *didn’t* get into the show. Not only is Uncle Dunc a stout-hearted hero… he’s also got predictably great taste in literature. pic.twitter.com/1h5hleFhcE

— Joe Hill (@joe_hill) October 23, 2021

Locke & Key season 2 is available for streaming on Netflix. This news comes to us from Comics Beat.

Topics: Locke & Key

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