Locke & Key’s Final Season is Coming to Netflix

Indeed, true to form for this comic book-turned-Netflix series, there is much more action and adventure in store for the Locke family as the villains that have entered our universe from another dimension do everything in their power to gather those magica

Canadian star Connor Jessup takes us inside the bittersweet final season of this dark family fantasy 

The cast and crew of Locke & Key knew the end of the show was near by the time production started on the third season, but for Tyler Locke, played by Toronto native Connor Jessup, the magic that has been ruling his family’s existence had already run its course by the end of season two.

“He’s so grief-stricken by Jackie’s death and by his role in it, that he comes to the conclusion that it’s better for him to forget magic and everything that goes along with it—forget Jackie, forget why she died, forget all this pain that has come to be associated with magic and go off and start anew,” teases Jessup. “I don’t think it’s a big spoiler to say that it doesn’t exactly go as planned. He gets roped back into things that were beyond what he could have imagined.”  Locke & KeyNetflixIndeed, true to form for this comic book-turned-Netflix series, there is much more action and adventure in store for the Locke family as the villains that have entered our universe from another dimension do everything in their power to gather those magical keys for nefarious purposes. While Tyler is no longer aware of the family agenda of putting a wrench in their nemeses’ plans, his attempt to settle into a quiet life elsewhere isn’t quite successful either. “If only it was as easy as saying, ‘I want to leave all that behind,’” Jessup muses. “But I think there’s this nagging thing at the back of his mind that something is unresolved that he needs to figure out.” Locke & KeyNetflixWith Tyler out of commission, saving the world—or the town of Matheson, Massachusetts, at least—falls on the shoulders of family matriarch Nina (Darby Stanchfield), whose eyes have finally been opened to the truth. “A lot of her role in the first two seasons was walking in on whispered conversations and asking, ‘Is everything OK?’ ” says Jessup. “I think she feels—even though it’s overwhelming and scary and dangerous at times—like things make sense. Finally, she can understand not just her kids and what they’ve been going through, but also more about her husband and the secrets that he felt he had to keep from her.” Locke & KeyNetflixIn Tyler’s absence, younger sister Kinsey (Emilia Jones) has also had to step up and take charge. “She doesn’t seem to need him. I think he’s proud of her, because he loves her, but it’s nice to be needed,” admits Jessup. But soon, the situation they thought they had under control goes to hell pretty fast, requiring all Locke hands on deck. “At the end of season two, they defeat Dodge [Laysla De Oliveira], who has been the only nemesis they’ve known. They don’t know that there’s this much more menacing threat looming,” the actor says. “Then Gideon [Kevin Durand] comes in and has a much darker plan for these keys than Dodge ever did.”

Of course, this show was never really as much about the super-villains in the Lockes’ lives as it was about dealing with inner demons. In the final season, Nina, for example, uses magic to re-examine some tough moments from her past. “She’s had an extremely rough couple of seasons, struggling with addiction issues, which is not being helped by being in a new place and feeling like she can’t connect to her kids and deep grief over the loss of her husband,” says Jessup. “She sees magic in the first couple of seasons and then forgets it immediately, and I have a sinking suspicion that seeing and forgetting is not a perfect process—that there’s some residue left behind that creates this weird sense of memories that you’ve forgotten. I think this is how a lot of people feel when they’re struggling with grief and addiction. So, on that level, it feels like she has a better grip on her life now.” Locke & KeyNetflixIndeed, to Jessup, the heart of the show was always about a family dealing with grief. “If I ever felt lost or I didn’t know what a scene was about, that was always the thing that reminded me what the show was for and what I felt the most passionately about,” he says. “It was the sense of how you become an adult, and how you don’t ever lose that sense of loss, you just grow something around it.”  

And on a personal level, the relationships he was able to form will affect him long past the final episode. “I can’t imagine the shape of my life without the show and the people that I met through it,” Jessup reflects. “Because the atmosphere was so warm and friendly and encouraging, and the show was so much fun, I really felt like I learned how to relax during work. It’s not until the show that I realized how tense I had been on other things. A lot of it is about the people making it. We wanted making the show to feel the way that watching it does. It was a new thing for me.”  

Locke & Key, streaming Wednesday on Netflix