Lockwood & Co. Show vs Book: 4 Biggest Differences Explained
Changes are inevitable when adapting books for the screen, and although Netflix’s Lockwood & Co. is remarkably faithful to its source material, the show did make some big changes to the original story. The Lockwood & Co. adaptation is based on the book series by Jonathan Stroud and follows the titular ghost fighting agency, which is comprised of Anthony Lockwood, George Karim, and Lucy Carlyle. As a smaller agency, Lockwood & Co. has plenty of run-ins with other agencies, leading them to face off against more than just specters and the difficulty of keeping their start-up afloat.
Lockwood & Co.’s adventures span across five books in Stroud’s original series. However, the Netflix show’s first season adapts only the series’ first two stories, The Screaming Staircase and The Whispering Skull. As far as adaptations go, Netflix’s Lockwood & Co. is pretty faithful to its source material, with Stroud having a level of involvement in his series’ adaptation, although adapting stories for different mediums always necessitates some changes. Here are four of the biggest changes between the original Lockwood & Co. books and the Netflix show, explained.
Netflix’s Lockwood & Co Left Out A Book Fight Sequence
Netflix’s Lockwood & Co. is not lacking in ghost-fighting action, but one huge fight from the original series’ second book didn’t make it into the TV show. At the beginning of Jonathan Stroud’s The Whispering Skull, Lockwood and George are fighting ghosts on a common when the two characters have a run-in with Quill Kipps’ crew (which includes Bobby, played by Paddy Holland), who beat them up. Despite it being a major element in the book, the encounter is missing from the Netflix series.
According to a RadioTimes interview with director Joe Cornish, this fight sequence from The Whispering Skull is missing from the Netflix series due to budgetary reasons. “It was just a massive set piece that didn’t actually advance the story and we didn’t have the time or money for it,” explained Cornish. According to Cornish, the Netflix adaptation managed to fit in every other set piece in the book besides this one. As a compromise, Netflix’s Lockwood & Co. has the main characters reference the fight with Kipps’ crew, so the fight isn’t completely missing from the TV show’s canon, but it does not take place on screen in the series.
The Lockwood & Co Show Changed George’s Name
Though the Netflix show took care in faithfully translating the books’ characters to the screen, some key details about George underwent changes for the show. Those who have only seen the Lockwood & Co. adaptation will know Lockwood & Co.’s lead researcher as George Karim, who is played by Ali Hadji-Heshmati on the screen. However, in the original book series by Jonathan Stroud, George is actually named George Cubbins.
This change occurred as a result of Ali Hadji-Heshmati’s casting in the role of George. Hadji-Heshmati is of British-Iranian descent in real life, and although George Cubbins isn’t in the original books, the Netflix adaptation decided to adjust the character’s backstory and name to reflect the actor’s identity. To adjust George’s character accordingly, book author Jonathan Stroud and Hadji-Heshmati chose a new surname for the researcher, which is how George Cubbins came to be known as George Karim in the Netflix series.
Netflix’s Lockwood & Co Embellished Lucy’s Backstory
George is not the only character who has minor changes in Netflix’s Lockwood & Co. In addition to changing George’s surname, the series also embellished certain aspects of Lucy Carlyle (played by Ruby Stokes from Bridgerton). Lucy’s backstory is mostly covered in the first book, The Screaming Staircase. Lucy’s backstory in the books states that her father was an alcoholic who died and her mother didn’t care much for her children, signing the prodigious Listener Lucy up as an agent at age 8. Though Lucy quickly excelled as an agent, the Wythburn Mill incident led her to run away, eventually applying to Lockwood & Co. However, Netflix’s Lockwood & Co. expanded her story.
Netflix’s Lockwood & Co. greatly expanded on Lucy’s story. Cornish stated the backstory for the character was “light” in the books, leading to the embellishing and inventing of certain backstory details for Lucy (played by Ruby Stokes from Bridgerton). In addition to aging Lucy up to 13 in the flashback to her backstory, viewers get to see more of Lucy’s training leading up to the Wythburn Mill incident. Since the first book’s plot is told in the first four episodes of Lockwood & Co., the production had much more room to expand upon its characters, meaning audiences get to spend more time with Lucy in the show.
Kipps Resigned In The Lockwood & Co Books, But Not In The Netflix Show
In the last episodes of Lockwood & Co., it is revealed that Quill Kipps, the leader of a Fittes team and Lockwood’s biggest rival, is beginning to lose his Talent. The original book series states that only young people have the psychic abilities to interact with and defeat ghosts, meaning that over time, agents’ abilities to see and hear ghosts can diminish. This is the case for Kipps (played by Jack Bandeira, who also appeared in My Policeman), who is reaching young adulthood, making it difficult for him to see ghosts. Although Kipps remains working with Fittes in the Netflix series, losing his Talent leads Kipps to resign in the books.
In Netflix’s Lockwood & Co., Kipps offers to resign as a condition of his and Lockwood’s bet in the season’s ending, but Lockwood calls the bet off, meaning Kipps is still with Fitts. Although there is no official reason why the show chose to keep Kipps at Fittes even though he is losing his Talent, it is likely to keep him as a rival for Lockwood. Kipps is not Lockwood’s only rival in the Netflix show, as the group faces plenty of opposition outside Kipps and his crew, but Kipps is his best rival, considering the two’s history, so it makes sense to keep him in an adversarial position.
Another reason for this could be that Kipps technically resigns in the third Lockwood & Co. book. Netflix’s adaptation of Lockwood & Co. covers the plots of the first two books of the series of the same name, meaning the series could be saving Kipps resignation for a future season. Though Lockwood & Co. season 2 is still unconfirmed, the Netflix show saving Kipps resignation shows that the show’s next season still has plenty of great book storylines to explore in the future.
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