Lucifer (TV series)

Lucifer
Genre	Police procedural Comedy-drama Mystery Crime Horror Fantasy
Based on	The characters created for Vertigo by Neil Gaiman, Sam Kieth, and Mike Dringenberg
Developed by	Tom Kapinos
Starring	Tom Ellis Lauren German Kevin Alejandro D. B. Woodside Lesley-Ann Brandt Scarlett Estevez Kevin Rankin Rachael Harris Tricia Helfer Aimee Garcia
Composer(s)	Marco Beltrami Dennis Smith
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	23 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Tom Kapinos (pilot) Ildy Modrovich Len Wiseman Jonathan Littman Jerry Bruckheimer Joe Henderson
Producer(s)	Alex Katsnelson Michael Azzolino Erik Holmberg Nathan Hope
Location(s)	Los Angeles, California (pilot) Vancouver, British Columbia
Cinematography	Glen Keenan Ryan McMaster
Editor(s)	Marc Pattavina Ray Daniels III Fred Peterson
Camera setup	Single-camera
Running time	43 minutes
Production company(s)	Jerry Bruckheimer Television Vertigo (DC Entertainment) Warner Bros. Television
Distributor	Warner Bros. Television Distribution
Release
Original network	Fox
Original release	January 25, 2016 (2016-01-25) – present (present)
External links
Website
Production website

Lucifer is an American fantasy police procedural comedy-drama television series developed by Tom Kapinos that premiered on Fox on January 25, 2016.^[1][2] It features a character created by Neil Gaiman, Sam Kieth, and Mike Dringenberg taken from the comic book series The Sandman, who later became the protagonist of the spin-off comic book series Lucifer written by Mike Carey, both published by DC Comics' Vertigo imprint. In April 2016, Fox renewed the series for a second season, which premiered on September 19, 2016.^[3] On October 31, 2016, the series received a 22-episode full second season pickup by Fox.^[4]

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, where he gets his kicks helping the LAPD punish criminals".^[5] Lucifer runs a nightclub in Los Angeles called "Lux", with the assistance of his demonic ally Mazikeen or "Maze". After a minor celebrity whom Lucifer once helped achieve fame is murdered outside his club, Lucifer becomes involved with the LAPD when he takes it upon himself to assist Detective Chloe Decker in finding the one responsible so that he can "punish" them. He becomes fascinated with Decker when she appears to be immune to his powers and charms.

Cast and characters

• Tom Ellis^[7] 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 (LAPD) 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 and can compel them to speak the truth. He enjoys using these abilities to expose sinners in public.^[8] He speaks openly and casually about his true identity, but is not usually believed. According to events in "Favorite Son" (season 1, episode 6), Lucifer was once also known in heaven as "Samael" (as well as other names after he was sent to rule hell).
• Lauren German as Detective Chloe Decker:^{[9][10][11][12]} An LAPD homicide detective, who solves crimes with Lucifer after he takes an interest in her because she appears immune to his abilities. Because of an earlier incident in which she clashed with the LAPD concerning a cop shooting, she was ostracized by her fellow officers (until the events of the climax of the first season), resulting in her being partnered with Lucifer as her civilian consultant (who she describes as "Mr. Short Attention Span"). When she is around Lucifer, he becomes vulnerable to physical harm.
• Kevin Alejandro^[13] as Detective Dan Espinoza: An LAPD homicide detective and Chloe's ex-husband. He is not a fan of Lucifer mainly because of the hellraiser's connection to Chloe and their daughter, Trixie. In the season 2 episode, "My Little Monkey", it's revealed that, despite everything, Dan is actually envious of Lucifer, as Lucifer has everything (money, looks, women, no responsibilities).
• D. B. Woodside^[14] as Amenadiel Firstborn: A dark-winged angel, and 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. Thus, he and Lucifer despise each other. While posing as a psychotherapist, he goes under the pseudonym "Dr. Canaan (M.D., Psy., D.)".
• 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.^[15] Into season 2, Maze, looking for a new direction in life, becomes a bounty hunter, having been something that feels right to her. In season two, she calls herself "Mazikeen Smith", which is the name that appears as her name on a cheque she receives.
• Scarlett Estevez^[16] as Beatrice, nicknamed "Trixie": Chloe and Dan's daughter, who befriends Lucifer, much to his amazement (and disgust, since he despises children), because he "cheers [her] up". She is always open to bribes of either cash and chocolate fudge cake. Trixie has stated that she wants to president of Mars when she's grown-up, either that or a zookeeper.
• Rachael Harris^[14] as Dr. Linda Martin: Lucifer's therapist, with whom he has a sexual relationship due to his powers of persuasion, but she later breaks it off, due to it being a conflict of interest. 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 believes that Lucifer was using a religious metaphor and did not believe he is really the devil; after a period of time she took to absorb the enormity of the truth, before accepting that Lucifer is like a lot of her other patients: a damaged individual from a dysfunctional family. According to the season 1 episode, "Et Tu, Doctor?", Dr. Martin had gained her qualifications at Stanford University, lectures at USC, and holds a large number of awards for psychotherapy.
• Kevin Rankin^[17] 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. It's later revealed that Dan was the one who shot him, knowing that Malcolm was going to shoot Chloe. He was killed by Chloe Decker in the season finale after he had committed a series of murders.
• Tricia Helfer as Charlotte Richards/"Mum" (season 2), Lucifer's and Amenadiel's mother and exiled wife of God, who has escaped her prison in Hell.^[18] 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 a aunt, who was a nun, but who taught her that questioning ('doubt') things was alright, and so Ella believes that questioning things (and, thus, seeking answers) makes her a better scientist ("I 'doubt' so that I can believe").

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.^[1] 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.^[7] Lina Esco was originally cast as Maze (Mazikeen),^[19] however, the role was later recast with Lesley-Ann Brandt.^[15] Nicholas Gonzalez portrayed Dan in the pilot episode.^[20]

In May 2015, the series was officially picked up for 13 episodes for the 2015–16 season.^[21][22] Fox then hired Almost Human alum Joe Henderson as showrunner, with Kapinos remaining on the series in a lesser capacity.^[23]

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.^[24] The character was promoted to series regular in July 2016.^[25] Aimee Garcia had also been cast as a regular in season 2, playing L.A.P.D.'s forensic scientist Ella Lopez.^[26]

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".^[27]

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.^[28]

Broadcast

Broadcast on the Fox network in the US, the series is available in the United Kingdom from Amazon Prime^[29] and in Australia on FX.^[30]

Reception

Ratings

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."^[36] 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.^[37]

The first season received generally mixed reviews. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 49% approval rating, with an average rating of 5.2/10 based on 35 reviews. The website's consensus reads: "Lucifer's got sex appeal, but the show's hackneyed cop procedural format undermines a potentially entertaining premise."^[38] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 49 out of 100 based on reviews from 22 critics, indicating "Mixed or average reviews".^[39]Every episode of Season 1 as of December 2016 has recieved at least 8.3/10 on IMDb.^[40]

The second season is faring better than the first, with very good reviews of the initial episodes.^[41]

Awards and nominations

Controversy

On May 28, 2015, the American Family Association (AFA) website One Million Moms launched a petition to prevent the show's airing.^[43] The petition says the new series "will glorify Satan as a caring, likable person in human flesh."^[44] It posted the petition on that date and 31,312 had signed the petition by the series' premiere date.^[45] The petition on the main AFA website, posted the same date, garnered 134,331 signatures by the premiere date.^[46][47] 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..."^[48] Despite the AFA's actions, Fox renewed the series in April 2016 for a second season.^[49]

See also

• Television in the United States portal
• 2010s portal

References

External links

• Official website
• Lucifer at the Internet Movie Database