Lucifer (TV series)

Premise

The series focuses on Lucifer Morningstar, the Devil, who is bored and unhappy as the Lord of Hell, and resigns his throne and abandons his kingdom for the beauty of Los Angeles. Lucifer runs a nightclub in Los Angeles called "Lux", with the assistance of his demonic ally Mazikeen. Lucifer becomes involved with the LAPD when he begins to assist Detective Chloe Decker in crime cases. He becomes fascinated with Decker when she appears to be immune to his powers. God's wife later escapes Hell, and Lucifer's punishment for her is to stay on Earth, and the celestial family are forced to deal with the ramifications of this.

Cast and characters

Tom Ellis as Lucifer Morningstar

The Lord of Hell, who is bored with his life, abdicates his throne and becomes a civilian consultant for the Los Angeles Police Department while running his own high-end nightclub, called "Lux". Beside superhuman powers such as invulnerability, strength and speed, he has a supernatural awareness of any person's hidden desires. While Lucifer's appearance in the comics was inspired by David Bowie, actor Tom Ellis, however, saw the character as more of an Oscar Wilde or Noël Coward character "with added rock and roll spirit", and thus decided to approach portraying the character of Lucifer as if he were the "lovechild of Noël Coward and Mick Jagger, with a dash of British actor Terry-Thomas".

Lauren German as Detective Chloe Decker

An LAPD homicide detective, who solves crimes with Lucifer after he takes an interest in her because she appears immune to his abilities. Due to an earlier incident concerning a cop shooting, she was ostracized by her fellow officers, resulting in her being partnered with Lucifer as her civilian consultant. When she is around Lucifer, he becomes vulnerable to physical harm. The events of "Quid Pro Ho" reveal that Chloe's conception was the result of a miracle, performed by God with assistance from Amenadiel.

Kevin Alejandro as Detective Daniel "Dan" Espinoza

An LAPD homicide detective and Chloe's ex-husband. He dislikes Lucifer because of the hellraiser's connection to Chloe and their daughter, Trixie. Lucifer repeatedly calls him "Douche" (or "Detective Douche", "Sir Douche", etc.). Originally Chloe's superior on the force, events of the Malcolm Graham case caused Dan to be suspended, then reinstated with a demotion back to Detective.

D. B. Woodside as Amenadiel

A dark-winged angel, Lucifer's older brother, and the eldest out of all of their siblings, who arrives in Los Angeles to encourage Lucifer to go back to Hell, saying the latter's new life is upsetting Earth's balance. Unlike Lucifer, Amenadiel has always followed God's orders. While posing as a psychotherapist, he goes under the pseudonym "Dr. Canaan".

Lesley-Ann Brandt as Mazikeen

Confidante and devoted ally of Lucifer Morningstar. Lucifer calls her "Maze" for short. She is a demon who, having served as his head torturer, followed him up from out of hell, and acted as a bartender and bodyguard at Lucifer's club. In season 2, Maze, looking for a new direction on Earth, becomes a bounty hunter, having found something that feels right to her. She uses the alias "Mazikeen Smith" as her legal identity on Earth.

Scarlett Estevez as Beatrice "Trixie"

Chloe and Dan's daughter, who befriends Lucifer, much to his amazement and disgust, because he "cheers [her] up".

Rachael Harris as Dr. Linda Martin

Lucifer's therapist. She attempts to help Lucifer solve his emotional and personal problems throughout the series, and tries to get him to open up about his true self. Until he reveals to her his true self, Dr. Martin believed that Lucifer was using a religious metaphor, before she accepts that Lucifer is a damaged individual from a dysfunctional family. Dr. Martin had gained her qualifications at Stanford University and holds a large number of awards for psychotherapy.

Kevin Rankin as Detective Malcolm Graham (season 1)

A police officer who was shot prior to the beginning of the series. Chloe Decker witnessed the shooting, which occurred while Malcolm was secretly meeting with a suspected criminal. After the shooting, he was left in a coma. He was then brought back from the dead by Amenadiel to kill Lucifer.

Tricia Helfer as Charlotte Richards/"Mum" (season 2)

Lucifer and Amenadiel's mother and exiled wife of God, who has escaped her prison in Hell. On Earth, her soul occupies the body of Charlotte Richards, a managing partner in a law firm who was just murdered.

Aimee Garcia as Ella Lopez (season 2)

A forensic scientist for the LAPD who helps Chloe and Lucifer with her cases. Ella hails from Detroit, and grew-up with four brothers. Ella wears a crucifix, leading both Lucifer and Chloe to ask questions about her Christian faith; according to Ella, she had an aunt who was a nun, but who taught her that to doubt things was all right, and so Ella believes that questioning things makes her a better scientist.

Production

In September 2014, it was reported that DC and Fox were developing a television series based on the Sandman character Lucifer, as originally written by Neil Gaiman. In February 2015, it was announced that Tom Ellis had been cast as Lucifer Morningstar, and that Tom Kapinos would write the pilot, to be directed by Len Wiseman. Lina Esco was originally cast as Maze (Mazikeen), however, the role was later recast with Lesley-Ann Brandt. Nicholas Gonzalez portrayed Dan in the pilot episode.

In May 2015, the series was officially picked up for 13 episodes for the 2015–16 season. Fox then hired Almost Human alum Joe Henderson as showrunner, with Kapinos remaining on the series in a lesser capacity.

In June 2016, it was announced that Tricia Helfer had been cast as Lucifer and Amenadiel's mother, Charlotte, and that she was to appear in multiple episodes in season 2. The character was promoted to series regular in July 2016. Aimee Garcia had also been cast as a regular in season 2, playing L.A.P.D.'s forensic scientist Ella Lopez.

In August 2016, executive producer Ildy Modrovich announced the casting of Michael Imperioli as the angel Uriel, Amenadiel and Lucifer's middle brother with "a chip on his shoulder".

Several episodes include musical performances by Tom Ellis, although he has stated in interviews that while it is his vocals, the piano accompaniment seen on screen is not actually him.

Broadcast

Broadcast on the Fox network in the US, the series is available in the United Kingdom from Amazon Prime and in Australia on FX.

Critical reception

The pilot episode was screened in July at the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con. The pilot was met positively by the viewers, with Bleeding Cool's Dan Wickline praising the episode, saying "the show itself is enjoyable because of the great dialogue and flawless delivery from its lead" and "This version of Lucifer refuses to take almost anything seriously and the show is better for it." Max Nicholson of IGN rated the pilot episode a 6.9/10, praising Tom Ellis's performance as Lucifer and the lighthearted tone of the show, but criticizing the show for essentially being another crime procedural show.

The first season received mixed reviews. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 49% approval rating based on 35 reviews, with an average rating of 5.2/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Lucifer's got sex appeal, but the show's hackneyed cop procedural format undermines a potentially entertaining premise." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 49 out of 100, based 22 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Controversy

On May 28, 2015, the American Family Association (AFA) website One Million Moms launched a petition to prevent the show's airing. The petition says the new series "will glorify Satan as a caring, likable person in human flesh." It posted the petition on that date and 31,312 had signed the petition by the series' premiere date. The petition on the main AFA website, posted the same date, garnered 134,331 signatures by the premiere date. In response to the petition, character creator Neil Gaiman commented on his Tumblr page: "Ah. It seems like only yesterday (but it was 1991) that the "Concerned Mothers of America" announced that they were boycotting The Sandman because it contained lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and trans characters. It was Wanda that upset them most: the idea of a trans-woman in a comic book... They told us they were organizing a boycott of The Sandman, which they would only stop if we wrote to the American Family Association and promised to reform. I wonder if they noticed it didn't work last time, either..." Regardless of the AFA's actions, Fox renewed the series in April 2016 for a second season.