The wait is almost over folks! This Friday, you’re all invited to return to Keyhouse when Locke and Key Season 2 debuts on Netflix! And to celebrate the release of one of the most fun and fantastical series to ever grace your Netflix queue, we are revealing extra special interviews with the series’ cast and crew! Today, we’d love to present a special interview with the amazing stars of the show, Connor Jessup (who plays Tyler Locke) and Darby Stanchfield (who plays Nina Locke).
We were lucky enough to share Jessup and Stanchfield’s time with other members of the press. Here’s what they had to say about what’s in store for the Locke family this season:
Can you both tease a bit about your relationships on the show? Tyler’s relationship with Jackie and how it affects his ability to protect the keys? And Nina’s relationship with Josh and how it affects her ability to move on or not move on?
Jessup: Yeah! At the beginning of Season 2, Tyler is really mostly in a pretty good place. He feels more at home. He feels comfortable using the keys. His relationship with his siblings and entire family is better. And he’s in this relationship with Jackie which is a meaningful thing for him. But hanging over both of them is the fact that they’re both about to turn 18. Jackie before him. And they know when they’re about to become adults, magic slips away. You forget what you’ve seen. And he becomes very, very obsessed with the idea that losing magic and losing the memories will mean losing everything that’s good about his life now. And he wants to protect Jackie. He wants to find a way to keep her in his life. And he feels like if she loses magic, in a way she’ll be lost to him too. And she has a very different perspective as the show goes on. She feels that maybe it’s natural to forget. Maybe there’s a reason why you forget. And the tension between them on that, and the storm cloud in general become really really important to Tyler in Season 2.
Stanchfield: So for Nina Locke, she meets a new man in Season 2. His name is Josh Bennett, and he’s a teachaer at Matheson School. And what I love about this relationship and this season for Nina Locke, is that it’s not over simplified. Where Nina lets go of her grief of her dead husband, Rendell Locke, and just meets the new guy and all is forgotten. The grief continues on, it’s threaded in there. Josh Bennett has also lost his wife to a sudden death experience, so they have that in common. And that’s one thing that bonds them… and it was challenging too to weave that web of being excited about this new relationship and possibility in her life. And having gone through some feeling of grief, but also it’s still lingering and a part of who she is. So that’s what that looks like in Season 2.
For Darby, how does it for Nina to finally get into the supernatural aspects of the storyline, and now that Season 3 has been greenlit, do you hope you get more into it?
Stanchfield: Nina has interacted with magic in Season 1, when she goes into the mirror and when she gets drunk and interacts with the mending cabinet. But you’re right. She forgets it. And what we see is something quite special at the end of Season 2. But she gets a more intense experience. We’re left in the cliffhanger on whether she’ll remember it or not… it was so fun to play. I enjoyed what they wrote for Nina Locke… We have already shot Season 3 so I know the answer, but that’s really the million dollar question after the show. What’s Nina Locke’s fate? We all want to know.
Conner, can you share with us any details about your role in Season 3?
Jessup: I’m in it. Tyler’s relationship with these keys is not over.
Making keys is becoming a huge mythological element for the series. If either of you had the ability to make your own key in real life, what would that key be?
Jessup: Do you have something that leaps to mind Darby?
Stanchfield: Wow! This is a really good question. I don’t think we’ve been asked this before!
Jessup: No.
Stanchfield: The first thing that comes to mind is, maybe something like a global warming key. A key I can make and just put it up in the sky, open it up, and take all the carbon out of there!
Jessup: God, now I feel bad! Everything in my mind was so much more selfish! I was like, if there could be like a “procrastination key” that I could eliminate the urge to procrastinate temporarily!
Stanchfield: That key’s needed!
Jessup: It’s called Red Bull I guess!
If you could switch your character with anybody else in Season 2, which character would you switch with?
Jessup: I’ve never played a villain before. And the villains in this season have a lot of fun! I think both Gabe and Eden are really fun characters. I think I would say Gabe/Dodge, because I didn’t get to work much with Eden. But every time I did a scene with Griffin (who plays Gabe) I was always like ‘You get to be all nefarious! You get to smirk behind our backs!’ That’d be fun.
Stanchfield: I have to say my answer is very similar. The two characters, Eden and Gabe, are really delicious villains this season. They have a lot of fun. I would also say Gabe. Dodge is just the shiftiest character. That would be my choice… It’d be a fun departure from Nina Locke.
How aware are you of what happens in the season when the season begins?
Jessup: Because Season 2 production was delayed, the writing was pretty much done. A lot of it was far along before we started to film. So we were able to have a lot of the scripts done, like four or five scripts before we even started shooting. And Carlton and Meredith our showrunners… are pretty open. We do have questions about where things are headed. They’re happy to answer. So it wasn’t a total mystery to me. But the way things happen is kind of surprising, more than the things themselves.
Stanchfield: I would add on to that it felt more like working on a film than an episodic TV show. Because you get a sense of the arcs… the showrunners let us know what to shoot for or where it was all headed so we could pace ourselves or know how much to take things throughout this season. Season 3, which we’ve already shot, they were still writing while we were going so we got them a little later. But again they were very communicative about what’s in store for us. So it was nice to have that.
Just getting to see all of your Instagram posts of you both, I love seeing your dynamic as a family with Jackson Robert Scott and Emilia Jones. Do you have any funny or crazy stories from the set with one another?
Stanchfield: I will share that we all came up with nicknames for each other organically. I won’t say what the nicknames are. We all had very edgy nicknames. And it was a family affair, wouldn’t you say Connor?
Jessup: For sure!
Stanchfield: We’ve become so familiar that we have nicknames only we know!
Jessup: And no one else ever will!
I can’t lie! I would pay good money to find out what those nicknames are!
Speaking with Connor and Darby was such a treat! As was getting to see this season of Locke and Key! Can’t wait for you all to check it out too when it hits Netflix, this Friday, October 22!
