Devilish intentions
Neil Gaiman’s Prince of Darkness leaps to the small screen in Lucifer
Sandman’s Prince of Darkness gets his own TV spin-off.
If you’ve been feeling like supernatural TV has been rather dark of late, then get ready to lighten up with Lucifer. The eponymous series is based on Neil Gaiman’s character Lucifer Morningstar, from The Sandman and subsequent spin-off comics written by Mike Carey. For TV, the mythology is being executive produced by Joe Henderson, Jonathan Littman, and pilot director Len Wiseman.
“There will be a lot of devilish behaviour,” Littman promises. “There will be mysteries, but it’s not a procedural. It’s a blend of comedy, genre and a bit of mystery.”
Miranda’s Tom Ellis embodies Lucifer as the son of Satan who leaves the Underworld. “The overriding aspect is Lucifer’s rebellion against his father,” Littman explains. “He leaves Hell and his father wants him back but he’s like a 13-year-old, he doesn’t want to go back.”
Turns out Lucifer quite likes the debauchery of Los Angeles and opens his own sin bin in the form of nightclub, Lux. “He owns a club and he’s a devil so it’s like Rick in Casablanca,” Littman explains. “There are people who will come looking for favours and he’s completely unabashed that he’s the devil. But while he’s here, he starts to do things that are good, which completely confounds him because he doesn’t understand it. So the backdrop of the series will be Lucifer’s journey.”
But don’t let Lucifer’s road to enlightenment deceive you. Littman promises the ride will be very fun. “It’s not trying to be a heavy genre show. It is funny and does not take itself seriously. Tom has done a great job creating that character. It’s very dry and borderline inappropriate in places.”
Lucifer airs 25 January on Fox. UK airdate TBC.