‘Lockwood & Co.’ | London’s Greatest Ghost-Hunting Agency [Script & Video]

London is known across the globe for many things, from Big Ben to its royal family, deep love for football, and of course…ghosts? Well, maybe not ghosts, unless that is if you happen to live in the more supernaturally attuned London of Netflix’s upcoming series, Lockwood and Co.

Based on Jonathan Stroud’s award-winning book series of the same name, Lockwood and Co. is a new series directed by Joe Cornish, that follows a trio of specially gifted teenage ghost hunters. These young hunter work to tackle an outbreak of deadly hauntings that plague London, while also competing with rival ghost-hunting agencies.

Now, while you won't be hunting any ghosts of your own, Fandom is here to tell you everything you need to know about Lockwood and Co. – from its supernatural themes, core characters and alternate London setting – so you’ll be ready for when the series drops on January 23.

Lockwood and who?

The series focuses on the adventures of London's smallest ghost-busting agency, the titular Lockwood & Co, and its three occupants; Anthony Lockwood – the agency's enigmatic, sword-swinging founder. George Karim, the chief researcher and expert on all things ghostly. And the newest recruit, the exceptionally psychically attuned Lucy Carlyle.

Being an agency run without any adult supervision, Lockwood takes on all manner of strange jobs, hurtling them into the strangest and darkest mysteries of the supernatural underworld. And into more trouble with rival agencies, and the Department for Psychical Research and Control – a division that oversees the operations of all agencies in London.

Agencies of the dark-arts

Speaking of other agencies, the renegade Lockwood & Co. will need to stay one step ahead in the ever-competitive market of ghost-hunting if they are to keep the lights on. competitors such as the esteemed ‘Rotwell Agency’ and London’s oldest and largest agency, ‘Fittes agency.

Fittes was the first to discover the threat of ghosts, now referred to as ‘the problem’, during the late 60s. While also pioneering the techniques used to eliminate ghosts. With such size and influence, Fittes agency is a constant looming shadow that threatens to swallow the much smaller Lockwood agency whole.

Psychic talents

When it comes to the ghosts that inhabit the world of Lockwood and Co., there are specific rules; for starters, hauntings only happen at night, and any direct contact with a supernatural being or their residue is lethal, shutting down the internal organs of those afflicted.

Secondly, only psychically attuned children and teenagers can see, hear and sense ghosts. As such the agencies in Lockwood and Co. hire talented youngsters, utilising their psychic abilities, equipping them with the latest gear and training them for combat.

Psychic talents are split into three categories called Sight, Touch and Listening.

Those gifted with ‘Sight’ can see ghosts in all their forms, as well as see other ghostly phenomena. Anthony Lockwood has this psychic talent and uses it to maintain a laser focus during combat.

‘Touch’ users can pick up on psychic echoes from objects belonging to the recently deceased or that have had contact with supernatural entities. George Karim has this talent which compliments his fierce intellect and inquisitive nature.

And lastly, the Listening talent. People with this psychic talent can hear the voices of the dead and experience echoes of past events. This talent is easily the most emotionally taxing and also the least common. Fortunately for Lockwood and Co., the talented Lucy Carlyle is on-hand to utilise her listening talent, that is, if she can learn to control this great power first before it overwhelms her.

What’s next?

With five books out in the Lockwood series so far, it’s unclear which of them will be adapted as part of the eight-episode series. Thought it looks like elements of at least the first book in the series ‘The screaming staircase’ will feature in the first episode. Either way, the future looks bright for this promising young series that will introduce audiences old and new to the meticulously crafted world of Johnathan stroud’s Lockwood and Co.

Make sure to check out the series when it drops on Netflix on January 2023.