Where Is Locke & Key Filmed?

Locke & Key taught us that you can't always trust what you see — including Keyhouse itself. 

For exterior shots, the production team built a facade, which was further embellished using special effects. It also wasn't really in Massachusetts: it was in Toronto, Canada.

Arranging the inside of Keyhouse proved to be an even tougher challenge — one the team behind the comics had faced too. Illustrator Gabriel Rodriguez originally trained as an architect, so he had fun laying out complicated blueprints for the mansion. Unfortunately, writer Joe Hill did not share his interest. "I never actually bothered to look," he admitted in an interview with CBR. Eventually, after Hill kept writing scenes that didn't make sense with the layout of the house, Rodriguez and editor Chris Ryall published the blueprints in one of the comics, forcing Hill to learn them.

The layout became one of the changes Netflix made to Locke & Key. The interior of Keyhouse was built on a soundstage, so in theory, the team had free reign to bring Rodriguez's blueprints to life. But in that interview published by CBR, executive producer Carlton Cuse explained that they had to change it for practical reasons: "It was important to create these traffic patterns... so you could actually follow the characters."

Cuse has prior experience navigating cast and crew through creepy old house sets. He was executive producer on Bates Motel, while fellow Locke & Key executive producer Meredith Averill worked on The Haunting of Hill House. And just as there are hidden details in The Haunting of Hill House, Cuse added, "There are a lot of incredible details in Keyhouse that will pay off down the stream." For example, production designer Rory Cheyne hid the initials K and H throughout the set.