Released in January 2023, Lockwood & Co. explores an alternate version of Britain plagued by ghosts. There's one catch: the only people who can actually see, hear, fight, and in some rare cases, communicate with these ghosts are kids and teens. In London, three of these talented teenagers set up their own psychical investigation agency, struggling to win cases from the biggest, most powerful, and most prestigious paranormal detection agencies in the country.
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Rotten Tomatoes Critics' Score
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Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score
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Wednesday
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80%
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81%
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Lockwood & Co.
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93%
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94%
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Across eight episodes, Lockwood & Co. constructs its premise with incredible care, resulting in one of the best-paced paranormal horror series Netflix has ever produced. The show's central conspiracy is genuinely compelling, and it doesn't shy away from making its ghosts properly terrifying, either — one sequence set in a haunted country estate includes blood dripping down the walls, and the characters' terror is palpable.
Lockwood & Co. deserved so much more than one season. In fact, Netflix would have only needed two more seasons to complete the story.
Lockwood & Co. Is One Of Netflix's Best Book Adaptations
Lockwood & Co. isn't just a great show in its own right — it's also one of the best book adaptations available to stream on Netflix, period. The show was adapted from Jonathan Stroud's five-book Lockwood & Co. series, published between 2014 and 2017. Lockwood & Co.'s first and tragically only season combines the story from the saga's first two books, The Screaming Staircase and The Whispering Skull.
While this narrative shift inevitably meant that some of the books' finer plot details were left out of the show, Lockwood & Co.'s story didn't suffer from these changes. Instead, it made for an incredibly cohesive introduction to Stroud's ghostly world, efficiently setting up the overarching plot for the rest of the series without overburdening the story or letting its leading characters flounder. The show perfectly captures Stroud's eerie, tense, and quintessentially British atmosphere, as well as the author's uniquely dark and clever sense of humor. Lockwood & Co. isn't just for teens — it's a great show for adults, too.
Netflix rarely misses when it comes to casting book characters, and Lockwood & Co. is no exception. The three members of the titular Lockwood & Co. agency — Camperon Chapman's recklessly charming Anthony Lockwood, Ali Hadji-Heshmati's diligent researcher George Karim, and Ruby Stokes' brave Lucy Carlyle — are all perfectly cast. Stokes, who gave up her role as Francesca Bridgerton in Bridgerton to lead Lockwood & Co., exuded an exceptional quiet strength. It's hard to believe Lockwood & Co. was Chapman's first and only TV role, as he was sensational as Anthony Lockwood. Heshmati perfectly balanced George's grumpy, anti-social side with the character's giddy, inexhaustible curiosity.
Given everything that Lockwood & Co. did right, it's a true shame that Netflix canceled the series, as people are still discovering it today. The "Save Lockwood & Co." Change.org petition has amassed over 50,000 signatures — the most recent signature was added only days ago. The way the first season set up the books' narrative, the show realistically only needed two more seasons to tell its complete story, and it deserved that chance. At least anyone watching (or rewatching) Lockwood & Co. can find out what happens next by reading Stroud's fantastic book series.
All episodes of Lockwood & Co. are streaming now on Netflix.
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Release Date
November 23, 2022
Network
Netflix
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Wednesday Addams / Goody Addams
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Credit: Helen Sloan/Netflix
English (US) ·