By Amy Beth
Updated
Who ya gonna call? 'Lockwood and Co,' of course.
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From the writer and director behind Attack the Block comes the new British detective thriller Lockwood & Co. The upcoming television series, based on author Jonathan Stroud's children's book series of the same title, will be Joe Cornish's first television project. The show follows a trio of gifted teenage ghost hunters at their amateur startup company Lockwood & Co as they battle against deadly spirits. Read on to find out everything we know so far about the show.
Editor's Note: This piece was updated on January 13, 2023, to include the latest trailer.
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What Is Lockwood & Co About?
Lockwood & Co follows three teenage ghost hunters in the midst of a haunting epidemic in London. Two gifted boys and a girl displaying "extraordinary psychic abilities" (think along the lines of Eleven from Stranger Things) make up the trio. Lucy Carlyle (Ruby Stokes), the young psychic, joins forces with two gifted boys Anthony Lockwood (Cameron Chapman) and George Cubbins (Ali Hadji-Heshmati) at their small startup company Lockwood & Co. The no-adults-allowed company task themselves with keeping the streets of London safe, battling with evil undead spirits night after night.
The official plot synopsis via Netflix reads:
In London, where the most gifted teenage ghost-hunters venture nightly into perilous combat with deadly spirits, amidst the many corporate, adult-run agencies, one stands alone: independent of any commercial imperative or adult supervision – a tiny startup, run by two teenage boys and a newly arrived, supremely psychically gifted girl, a renegade trio destined to unravel a mystery that will change the course of history: Lockwood & Co.
Is There a Trailer for Lockwood & Co?
Netflix released a short teaser for the upcoming Lockwood & Co on their official YouTube channel on October 26, 2022. In the teaser, we see Lucy Carlyle and Anthony Lockwood as they fight against a furious, shrieking spirit. The enraged entity causes Lucy to fall over a stair railing, and she clings on perilously above a huge drop as Lockwood attempts to slay the beast with some impressive combat skills. Moments before Lucy is about to slip and take a very nasty fall, Lockwood is back, and he grabs her hand and pulls her to safety. In the final seconds of the teaser, we learn a small but interesting tidbit about the show's lore: Lockwood asks Lucy if the ghost touched her, and she says of course it didn't - because if it had, she'd be dead.
The full trailer for Lockwood & Co was released by Netflix on January 12, 2023. Set to The Clash song "London Calling," the trailer gives us a glimpse at the series' ghosts, supernatural action, humor, and its exciting young cast.
Who's In the Cast of Lockwood & Co?
The trio consists of Ruby Stokes (Bridgerton) as young psychic Lucy Carlyle, Cameron Chapman in his debut role as Anthony Lockwood, and Ali Hadji-Heshmati (Alex Rider) as George Cubbins. Joining them are Ivanno Jeremiah (Humans) as Inspector Barnes, Luke Treadaway (Attack the Block) as The Golden Blade, Morven Christie (The Bay) as Penelope Fittes, and Ben Crompton (Game of Thrones) as Julius Winkman.
When and Where Can You Watch Lockwood & Co?
Filming for Lockwood & Co began July 5, 2021, in and around London and took a total of eight months before wrapping on March 15, 2022. It has since been revealed that Lockwood & Co will release worldwide on January 27, 2023.
Lockwood & Co will be available exclusively on Netflix for all customers on the day of its release.
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What Is the Background of Lockwood & Co?
Lockwood & Co is based on a children's book series by author Jonathan Stroud. The award-winning book series has a total of five installments, beginning in 2013 with The Screaming Staircase, and concluding in 2017 with The Empty Grave. Each spooky installment focuses on a different case.
From the book series, we learn more about each member of the ghost-hunting trio, and how exactly their specific gifts work. Lucy Carlyle is described as having a quick temper, and her psychic gift of hearing and empathy is utilized through touch. This leads us to speculate why, in the Netflix teaser, Lucy tells Lockwood that if the ghost had touched her, she'd be dead. It seems her psychic empathy - fueled by touch - could lead to her meeting the same unpleasant end as the spirits that surround her if she gets too close. Anthony Lockwood is described as somewhat of a risk-taker. Orphaned at a young age, he founded Lockwood & Co, and is the group's leader. His gift is supernatural sight, meaning he is able to see the ghosts plaguing London, as well as any "residue" a violent death might leave behind. George Cubbins is described as cynical and is quite the research expert. He is Lockwood's right-hand man, however, he struggles to get along with Lucy. He's said to be very attached to his pet: a possessed skull he keeps in a glass jar. Of course, it's important to remember that these are book descriptions only, and we do not yet know how many of these characteristics will make it to the screen.
Additionally, it seems the upcoming television series will focus on the cases depicted in the book series. In the teaser, we see Lucy and Lockwood as they face off with a screaming entity on a staircase - which leads us to believe the episode this clip is from will portray the events from The Screaming Staircase book. However, although the book series has five installments the television series will have a total of eight episodes, leaving plenty of room for all-new cases to be explored.
Shows Like Lockwood & Co That You Can Watch Now
The Midnight Club - Adapted from book to screen by horror director Mike Flanagan (The Haunting of Hill House) The Midnight Club is set in a remote mansion housing eight terminally ill teenagers. Each night when the clock strikes midnight, the teenagers meet up in the library and tell ghost stories consisting of love, loss, and horror. They also have a secret pact, kept hidden from their adult supervisors: whoever is the first to die will send a sign from the other side that leaves no doubt in the minds of the others that the afterlife exists. The Midnight Club is a beautifully tragic story of young people grappling with the idea of the supernatural.
Stranger Things - Set in the 1980s, Stranger Things takes place in the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana. Whilst riding his bike home from a friend's house, Will Byers is abducted by a creature from the "Upside Down", an alternate dimension that is a dark, supernatural mirror of the real world. Meanwhile, a young girl with psychic abilities escapes from the laboratory that is responsible for opening the portal to the Upside Down. She teams up with Will's friends, and together they quite literally go above and beyond to try to find the missing boy.
