Netflix has earned a reputation for cancelling promising shows just as they’re hitting their stride — Mindhunter, Sense8, Santa Clarita Diet — but they used to be known for the opposite: saving shows from cancellation. One of the earliest Netflix originals (the one that made me subscribe to Netflix in the first place) was a revival of Arrested Development. Fox had canned the show after three seasons, despite universal critical acclaim, and Netflix reassembled the cast for two more seasons.
That wasn’t the only time Netflix picked up a show that Fox had dropped. Lucifer is an urban fantasy series based on the DC Comics character Lucifer Morningstar, played by Tom Ellis. Lucifer is the Devil himself, and in the series, he abandons his post in Hell to run a nightclub in Los Angeles, and ends up becoming a consultant for the L.A.P.D. Californication creator Tom Kapinos developed the show, but Joe Henderson, who’s currently working on a live-action Pokémon series, acted as its showrunner.
Lucifer is a unique mix of genres. It brings the hallmarks of occult detective fiction to a slick modern-day police procedural. It essentially puts a character like Carnacki amongst the hardened L.A. cops of The Shield.
Ellis gives a pitch-perfect performance as Lucifer, and the series has really sharp dialogue. It was praised for its lightheartedness; it doesn’t take itself too seriously. That was the Constantine movie’s biggest problem: it did demonic detective noir with a straight face, rather than an ironic smile. Lucifer’s procedural elements have been criticized as very rote and familiar and formulaic — it sometimes feels like just another L.A. crime procedural — but audiences are gravitating back towards those old-school episodic formats. Just look at the success of The Pitt.
Lucifer Was Resurrected By Netflix
When the first season of Lucifer premiered on Fox, it was met with mixed reviews from critics. Some felt it was a nice throwback to classic procedurals, while others thought it was a safe, familiar execution of a cool idea. So, it was on shaky ground from the beginning. Instead of giving Lucifer the space to find its feet, Fox was looking for an excuse to gut it. That excuse arrived three seasons in, and Fox unceremoniously cancelled Lucifer in May 2018.
But, just one month later, following a passionate fan campaign to save the show, Lucifer got picked up by Netflix, where it ran for another three seasons. During its time on Netflix, Lucifer pulled in consistently high viewing figures, so maybe Fox was just marketing it wrong. These fan campaigns can perform miracles; they brought back Daredevil and The Leftovers and, of course, Arrested Development. If fans want something, like the Snyder cut, they’ll make darn sure they get it.
Lucifer Appeared On A Third Network
If they’re lucky, most shows only ever air on one network, and enjoy a nice, prosperous run. But Lucifer ended up moving to a third network. He had three seasons on Fox, three seasons on Netflix, and a cameo on The CW. Lucifer is tangentially linked to The CW’s Arrowverse, because Lucifer made a cameo appearance in the “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover event.
Set five years before the events of his series, Lucifer’s cameo retroactively established the universe of his show to be Earth-666. The scene confirmed that this version of Lucifer is aware of the multiverse, and that he has a history with John Constantine involving Mazikeen. It would be awesome to see Ellis’ Lucifer share the screen with Keanu Reeves’ Constantine — maybe in the long-mooted Constantine sequel — but, even if we never see him again, at least his show wasn’t cut short. Lucifer got to enjoy a nice, comfortable six-season run.
Lucifer
6/10
- Release Date
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2016 – 2021-00-00
- Network
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FOX, Netflix
- Showrunner
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Joe Henderson
- Directors
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Nathan Hope, Eagle Egilsson, Louis Shaw Milito, Sherwin Shilati, Claudia Yarmy, Greg Beeman, Tara Nicole Weyr, Lisa Demaine, Richard Speight Jr., Kevin Alejandro, Viet Nguyen, Alrick Riley, Eduardo Sánchez, Sam Hill, Mairzee Almas, Ben Hernandez Bray, Brad Tanenbaum, D.B. Woodside, David Frazee, David Paymer, Eriq La Salle, Hanelle M. Culpepper, Mark Tonderai, Matt Earl Beesley
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Tom Ellis
Lucifer Morningstar
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Lauren German
Chloe Decker
