What’s a reasonable timeframe to push for either the renewal of Lockwood & Co, or for another streaming service to pick it up?
Obviously there are a multitude of factors to consider- key among them being the actors (age, commitment to other works ect). After a certain point, things would be forced into the territory of a remake instead of a continuation of the original series.
It’s only been a month (already?!?), and there’s been some great progress is getting the word out there (a massive thanks to all involved for their hard work!), but how long can it continue?
Thanks for the question Anon, and we appreciate the kind words <3. This answer's kinda going to be divided into two parts, namely 1) reasons not to worry about the timeframe for the actors' sakes, and 2) our opinion of the timeframe in constrast with other shows that have been picked up.
There are tons of factors to consider, this is true, but we're luckier than most because of our source material.
In the books we start out with Lockwood and George at ~16 and Lucy at 15 (as per Jonathan Stroud, who only deals with approximate ages), but they certainly don't go through the books at these ages. The first book takes place over a couple months, then there's a year time skip at the start of Book 2, and Book 3 picks up a few months after that (and a four-month time skip between Books 3 and 4). By the time of Book 3 (where S2 will pick up), they're around 2 years older than that, give or take a few months, so that makes Lockwood and George ~18, and Lucy a year younger.
To add to that, according to notes from the show specifically, Lucy, George, and Lockwood are approximately 16, 17, and 18, respectively. If they follow the time skip, which they really kind of have to, at least a bit, that puts them at 18, 19, and 20 come S2.
This works in our favor -- we were already going to have to have a bit of a time skip between S1 and S2, to allow Lockwood to heal and for the Trio to kinda come down from the whole Annabelle/Bickerstaff one-two punch. They may look a slight bit older, but they will have to look a slight bit older.
In order for the events of Book 3 (and 4 and 5, of course) to happen, Lockwood & Co (the agency) has to be more cemented, they have to be getting more cases, they have to be successful, not the incredible underdogs they are at present. Otherwise, the inciting incident of Book 3 that carries us through the first third of book 4 just doesn't happen.
So we have to have a time skip anyway.
It also helps that Jack, Hayley, and Ali (Kipps, Flo, and George) aren't going to look any older even with a gap of a few years, which I don't think will happen. Even Cameron (Lockwood), the youngest, won't change that much at 20; he already looks slightly older than his age, which suits Lockwood, and with the too-small suits and the too-big coat, which they'll resize if needed, he can be kept looking as emaciated and young-yet-world-weary that he is in S1.
As a final note on the cast's ages, L&Co has one of the most accomplished makeup crews I've seen in a long time. TV makeup is usually middling to bad, honestly speaking, but the crew at L&Co does a phenomenal job. It's not too hard to shave a year or two off of a person's face with the right subtle makeup, and they're more than capable of it.
The rest of the concerns around availability can be worked around, honestly. The first shoot only took so long because of Britain's COVID regulations, which won't be as strict this time around. I honestly don't think that availability is overmuch a concern -- and in any case, a fandom can't do anything about that, so it's best not to worry.
As far as a general timeframe goes? As much as we would love to be able to say X months X days is the Final Point so let's push until then, there really is no timeframe -- other than, in reverse of what a lot of of the fandom thinks (this being a lot of people's first ever Campaign to Save a Show, to be frank), that the month mark that we're hitting on Monday is when stuff actually starts.
Ignoring Brooklyn 99 (as ever the outlier), shows as almost a rule don't get picked up in the first month. Even Lucifer, a show that had built multiple seasons' worth of fans and was certainly one of the most active, passionate, nigh-crazy campaigns I've ever seen, took a month.
(As a note of encouragement, a show that both mods enjoyed, Selfie, which was cancelled in 2014 before it could even finish airing its season in the Death Slot, is now apparently in talks 9 years later for a movie to finish up the story, due to a huge swell in recent demand from China, who apparently loves the show and uses it to teach English. That's 9 years later, and we'd given up hope entirely. Good things can and do happen, whether a day or a decade after.)
In this humble mod's mind, the first month is always prep. Getting people organized, getting the word out, hoping for press, making sure that at the very least the cast, crew, and associated people of the show are aware of the fan response. That's been the job we've had in mind for the last almost-month.
Come Monday, we' move on to a slightly different stage. Not that we'll be doing anything drastically different -- continuous, repeated effort is king here -- but we'll be at the time when shows begin to be picked up.
It's what we mean when we say that this is a marathon, not a sprint. We've been stretching, buying water bottles, making punny t-shirts and cardboard signs, and setting out the race's trail. Sure, we hope that we won't have to run too far past the starting line before the whistle blows -- but whether we're picked up in a month or six or twelve or even longer, we're still gonna run it.
The show deserves our effort every bit as much as it deserves our love.
In the once again humble opinion of this mod, I would doubt it will take that long. We've had a phenomenal amount of press, engagement, etc etc etc -- as we say every time we post, we're continually impressed and grateful that we get to play a small part in this amazing effort. I, personally, am humbled by the talent and passion of LockNation every time I see a post on tumblr, or when the Twitter Mod shows me posts on twitter. You're an amazing group, and I'm honored to play my incredibly small role on this stage.
To try to answer your original question, it's the view of this mod that it will be measured in months, rather than weeks, for a pickup of the show, and that the starting gun doesn't really go off until the month mark on June 12th.
So maybe take the weekend, LockNation, and plan to do something this coming week that you haven't -- make a call, make a meme, make a difference. This weekend finishes off our month of prep, after all, and we gotta make sure our sneakers are tied and our sweat-bands are on.
