‘Locke & Key’: Griffin Gluck Breaks Down Gabe’s Wicked Twist

Spoilers for Locke & Key Season 1 past this point.

Though the first season of Netflix’s comic book adaptation Locke & Key has plenty of twists and turns, it saves its biggest surprise for last. After revealing in Episode 8 that the villainous Dodge (Laysla de Oliveira) is actually Lucas Caravaggio (Felix Mallard), a man who was supposed to have died decades earlier, a second surprise is waiting. Using the magical Identity Key, not only is Lucas able to transform into Dodge, he’s also become friendly local teen Gabe (Griffin Gluck). And as the season ends, Gabe, a.k.a. Dodge, a.k.a. Lucas is on the loose and ready to bring havoc to the town of Matheson, along with fellow demon-infected teen Eden Hawkins (Hallea Jones).

For Gluck, who also stars in the upcoming Hulu movie Big Time Adolescence, finally getting to break bad was a dream come true.

“I was so excited to play the evil guy,” Gluck told Decider. “I couldn’t stop talking about it. Even though I probably shouldn’t have.”

And as it turns out, Gluck wasn’t able to keep the secret from his cast for long — though the twist did stay away from social media, for the most part. We discussed all of that with the actor, dressing like a lobster on set, and his hopes for a potential Season 2.

Decider: Now that it’s out, what’s the reaction been like on your end? Are you hearing a lot of the opinions from viewers?

Griffin Gluck: Only from my friends who I’ve told to watch it. A lot of them are really confused by it. They’re like, “Wait, so is that you or no?” And I’m like, “Yes. Yes. Yes.” But social media wise, I’m not sure. I think it’s getting a pretty good reaction. And I keep up to date with our statistics and stuff, and it looks like we’re doing pretty well. But I think the reaction’s been great, at least from what I hear from my friends. My friends love it. The ones who are really into it. And then there’s my friends who are just so confused. But if you miss 15 minutes of one episode, you could be completely lost. There’s so many minor details, that two episodes later you’re like, “Oh my god! That’s from the thing! That’s from the tiny thing that was shown like 4 episodes ago!”

Knowing you were the villain in advance and keeping it from the cast, how did that change your performance?

So it’s hilarious. I actually didn’t know most of the cast did not know that, but it makes sense thinking about it now. They gave us our scripts, like, they spaced them out. We didn’t have all 10 scripts when we started filming. So I would show up on the set and they would be like, “Oh cool! You’re Gabe, you’re just the kid.” And I’d be like, “Yeah,” And would assume they know, and later on in the conversation I’d be like, “I can’t wait to get into the evil stuff.” And they’re like, “I’m sorry?” But yeah, they kept it a secret from everyone.

Did you spoil it?

Oh, I for sure spoiled it for a bunch of people. But I mean, they would have known, one way or another. I was just the first to tell them. Which I thought was funny. But yeah, I was so excited to play the evil guy. I couldn’t stop talking about it. Even though I probably shouldn’t have. But I did a good job! No spoilers came out before it came out, so…

Did you look at Laysla’s and Felix’s performances at all to modulate your own? Did the three Dodges ever get together to chat, or was it really just diving into who Gabe was and keeping that front up, going from there?

We definitely, all of the Dodges hung out, for sure. There was never a time where we were like, guys, what do we think for Dodge? Because Laysla’s and the other Dodge are much more similar to each other than Gabe and the other Dodges. Gabe’s a bit more of… He’s his own beast, and the fun part about him is he gets to put on a mask. Even though he’s Dodge, he has to put on this disguise as Gabe, which is fun because you know he gets to code switch, and switch how he would normally do things.

But I think in season two is where we’ll really get to explore the similarities between all of the Dodges. Season 1, it was more about keeping Gabe, Gabe; just separate them so you couldn’t see that twist coming. So that when it did come, it hit a little harder. It was more surprising.

The closest that it comes to an indicator that something isn’t right with Gabe is the scene where Gabe and Kinsey are making Eden dance with the Music Box Key, and they started to go a little too far with it. Were you worried about tipping your hand there too much with the performance? Or did you again just go with the script and let it flow from there?

It was go with the script and let it go from there. I was lucky enough that the writers on this show are so incredibly talented, and the way that they wrote that scene made it really easy to play between the lines there so I could play the nice guy, completely worry free, and be astonished at the magic and be so excited as Gabe. Similar to how we separate the Dodges, it doesn’t really become a big deal until you find out who he actually is. I was just lucky enough that for the most of the season I got to focus on playing Gabe, instead of Dodge, but there was always that fun bit of always nodding towards Dodge, but they never made it so obvious that I was worried. I had a lot of faith in the writers and the producers on making sure that… I’m sure they didn’t want that to happen, either.

There are certainly a lot of questions from fans about whether Gabe was a real person that Dodge met previously, or did not actually exist at all before coming to Matheson. I’m not sure if you can clarify, or if that’s something that would come up in Season 2, potentially.

That’s something I’m interested in, as well because I don’t have the exact answers. I know that the Identity Key can change you to look like whatever you want, I believe. It doesn’t have to be based off of a real person. It’s very possible that Gabe is completely made up by Dodge. But then again, that’s just my intuition or my guess, which is just as good as anyone else’s. I don’t really get filled in on all that all too much. I think they want me to just play Gabe for now and not worry about that. But I do hope that’s something that we dive into in Season 2 because I’m just as interested.

With Eden getting infected by a demon at the end, that definitely changes things in a big way from the comics. If the show does get picked up for a Season 2, how do you think that’ll impact Dodge’s plans? Did you and Hallea Jones talk about how you’re going to mess up the Locke kids in any potential second season?

Totally. When Hallea and I talked about that stuff, it was always separate from the writers. It was always just our own guesses on what we thought was going to happen. I like to think that there’s going to be drama between the two demons and they’re going to start conflicting with each other, but then again, that’s just something I hope. I have no clue.

To take a big step back, I was curious about your introduction scene. It’s such a fun, but inauspicious introduction dressed in this giant lobster costume. What was it like filming that? Was it the first thing you filmed?

That was, actually. It completely was the first thing I filmed on set, and the fun thing about that is no one in the cast really knew that I was playing Dodge, as well. Because the way that they release the scripts, we have the first six before we go into filming and then they write the last couple of scripts while we’re filming; or at least they finish them off. So the rest of the cast only had up to a certain episode, so they didn’t know who my character was.

When I showed up on set in that lobster costume, I was like, this is so fun, this is so cool. And I think everyone was just like, why the fuck is he dressed like that? It’s just, what’s the point? But that was a lot of fun for me, especially being my first scene as an introduction to everyone. It was definitely more exciting than showing up to set wearing regular clothes. I had to dress in that special effects, lobster costume for two hours and show up on set.

On the other end of the spectrum, there’s the whole love triangle thing. I’m pretty sure, given you played one the characters, I can guess where you lie on this, but do you have a preference between Gabe and Kinsey, or Scot and Kinsey?

See, I’m actually pretty unbiased about this. I think Gabe is a bit of a jerk. He is Dodge, so I’m not going to be really rooting for him and saying I want him to succeed. But also, on the other spectrum of my bias, I want my character to stick around for a while and see what he can really do. I think for Kinsey in general, I’m more of a Scot/Kinsey guy, but just for the pure drama of it all, I’m also into the Kinsey/Gabe thing. As a person, Scot/Kinsey. As me just being a person who wants to see drama and see some crazy shit unfold? Kinsey/Gabe.

If there is a Season 2, is there anyone you want to see Gabe interact with more?

I want to see Gabe interact a lot more with Scot because we did a lot of scenes together as an ensemble with everyone in the Savini squad. There was never really a time where you got to see Scot and Gabe one-on-one, and that could be a really cool confrontation, even if Scot doesn’t really know who Gabe is. Truthfully, I think it’d be cool to see because Gabe knows exactly who he is, so it’d be fun to see that dynamic play out.

Last we heard, we know that they’re writing Season 2 in case there’s any pick-up, but have you heard anything?

Unfortunately for me, I am probably going to be one of the last people to know, or I’ll find out the same way everyone else does by seeing an article come out one morning and just freaking out and being excited. But I know that Carlton and Meredith are very optimistic that we could [get picked up]. They’re paying a lot attention to writing the scripts and making sure that we have a really good storyline for Season 2. I know that Netflix is really passionate about Locke & Key. They love this project. All things are pointing towards a good direction. I would hate to be the one that jinxes it so I’m not going to, but I think personally, knock on wood, we’re looking really strong.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Additional reporting by Lea Palmieri.

Stream Locke & Key on Netflix