Television series

Locke & Key

Name: Locke & Key
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Mystery
Released: 2020
Cast: Connor Jessup, Emilia Jones, Jackson Robert Scott, Darby Stanchfield, Petrice Jones

Dark fantasy

Three siblings inherit a house full of magical keys after their father's murder, each unlocking different supernatural powers. It's a mystery-adventure that blends grief, coming-of-age, and escalating supernatural stakes. Gorgeous design, genuinely eerie moments, perfect for people who loved *The Haunting of Hill House* but want something slightly lighter and more inventive.

TVMaze rating

3.7

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you want siblings squabbling over grief and a house full of strange doors, and you enjoy puzzles where each new key is a small gasp of invention.

Skip it if you find the teen melodrama wearing and want tight plotting, since the episodes often wander and the sibling bickering runs long.

What it asks of you: Three seasons of roughly 46-minute episodes ask for a steady, unhurried commitment, with plenty of talk between the eerie moments and a pace that rewards patience over bingeing.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

The Haunting of Hill House2018

A masterclass in atmospheric horror that balances family drama with genuine scares. Like *Locke & Key*, it uses a house as a character and explores grief through the supernatural. The emotional core is what lingers.

But Slower and darker than *Locke & Key*, with less fantastical fun and more existential dread. Some episodes cut between timelines in ways that can be confusing.

The Owl House2020

A Disney animated series that nails the same blend of found-family adventure, mystery boxes, and genuine character development. It escalates brilliantly across seasons and trusts its audience to care deeply.

But It's animated, which some viewers reflexively dismiss, and it takes time to build its mythology—patience required in season one.

Grimm2011

A procedural-fantasy hybrid where creatures hide in plain sight and magic lurks beneath everyday life. It has *Locke & Key*'s inventiveness with the rules of its world and shares that pleasure of discovering what each new supernatural thing can do.

But Heavily episodic early on, with a monster-of-the-week format that can feel repetitive. The mythology builds slowly and the show has its rough patches.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Locke & Key

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Over the Garden Wall2014

Both use a specific geographic place (a house, a forest) as the heart of their mystery, where the landscape itself has secrets. Both trust young characters to be protagonists rather than victims, and both structure their narratives around unlocking what's hidden.

A miniseries about two brothers lost in a mysterious forest. It's a masterpiece of atmosphere and escalating dread in just ten episodes—tighter, weirder, and more poetic than *Locke & Key*. The final act is devastating.

But It's only ten half-hour episodes, so if you want to live in a world longer, you'll be disappointed. It's also significantly darker and more unsettling, without supernatural powers to offset the horror.

Manifest2018

Mystery-driven supernatural drama with a missing-persons twist and escalating magical occurrences. It shares *Locke & Key*'s structure of gradually revealing how deep the strangeness goes and how far the characters will have to go to survive it.

But The plotting becomes increasingly convoluted and the show was cancelled mid-arc, leaving major threads unresolved. Some viewers find the pacing frustrating.

Penny Dreadful2014

A gothic ensemble piece where supernatural horror and emotional complexity are equally weighted. The production design is lush, the writing is intelligent, and it explores darkness with real consequence—a grittier cousin to *Locke & Key*.

But It's aggressively literary and sometimes slow. The first season is exposition-heavy and the show commits to moral ambiguity that some find bleak.

The Umbrella Academy2019

Dysfunctional siblings with powers reunite to stop an apocalypse, blending superhero spectacle with genuine family trauma. It has *Locke & Key*'s teen perspective and visual inventiveness, plus excellent music choices.

But The tone is inconsistent—swinging wildly between absurdist comedy and heavy drama. Season three loses focus and some plot threads feel abandoned.

Ozark2017

A family forced to reinvent themselves in dangerous circumstances, navigating escalating moral stakes and making increasingly dark choices. The tension is relentless and the character work is superb.

But It's brutal and sustained in ways *Locke & Key* never attempts. If you're watching for lightness or hope, this will exhaust you rather than entertain you.

The Midnight Club2022

A gothic mystery where eight teenagers are trapped in a hotel with a supernatural curse. It shares *Locke & Key*'s love of intricate plotting, gorgeous cinematography, and giving young people agency in their own stories.

But The anthology-within-the-story format can feel overwrought. The final reveal divides viewers sharply on whether the puzzle was worth the journey.

Nancy Drew2019

A teenager solves supernatural mysteries in her hometown while grappling with class and family conflict. It has the same pleasure of discovery and treats its young protagonist as fully realized, with genuine stakes.

But CW production values are obvious and the dialogue can be clunky. It's more teen soap opera than pure mystery, which some find dilutes the intrigue.

Pushing Daisies2007

Both use magic as a metaphor for grief and control. Both create worlds where supernatural abilities are tools that solve some problems and create others. Both treat magic as morally neutral—the question is what you do with it.

Whimsical magical-realism mystery where a baker can bring dead things back to life. It's visually stunning, endlessly inventive, and genuinely funny in ways *Locke & Key* rarely attempts. Every frame looks painted.

But The style can overwhelm substance—it's all surface enchantment, which some find hollow. The mythology never deepens and the emotional stakes feel secondary to the aesthetic.

The Haunting of Bly Manor2020

Both are Netflix gothic mysteries centered on a house full of secrets, where the building and its objects hold keys to understanding trauma. Both balance supernatural spectacle with genuine emotional vulnerability and treat their young female characters as fully human.

A ghost story about love, loss, and haunting structured as a mystery slowly revealed through nested stories. It's visually exquisite and emotionally mature—less about scares and more about what ghosts represent about unfinished lives.

But The pacing is deliberately slow and meandering, asking patience rather than offering momentum. If you want plot acceleration, this will frustrate you. Some find the romantic elements sentimental.