DEVILISHLY GOOD
Tom Ellis (“Rush”), D.B. Woodside (“24”) and season 2 newcomer Tricia Helfer (“Battlestar Galactica”) star in “Lucifer,” airing a new episode Monday.
The devil is in the details, or so the saying goes. When the details include red-hot stars and millions of viewers, the devil has a hit on his hands. Prime time heats up once again as Tom Ellis (“Rush”) returns as the devil himself, Lucifer Morningstar, who’s given up his post in hell to run a posh nightclub in L.A. in the midseason premiere of “Lucifer,” airing Monday, May 1, on Fox.
Inspired by a character from Neil Gaiman’s comic book series “The Sandman” and its spinoff “Lucifer,” the fantasy drama follows Lucifer as he works with LAPD detective Chloe Decker (Lauren German, “Chicago Fire”), who intrigues Lucifer because she’s inexplicably impervious to his powers and somehow renders him vulnerable to physical harm.
The new episode serves as the continuation of the second season, which was given a full-season pickup, fittingly, on Halloween. Fox executive David Madden had high praise for the series when the renewal was announced. “’Lucifer’ continues to deliver, with great blasts of dark humour and ambitious storytelling,” he said. “The show has turned out to be a true wicked pleasure.”
The series has been on hiatus since January, and it’s clear the first half of season 2 struck a chord with viewers and critics. As of press time, the second season has earned a 100 per cent approval rating on popular review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, and its success so far prompted an early 22-episode season 3 order from Fox in February. Shortly after that announcement, it was revealed that season 2 would consist of 18 episodes, and four stand-alone episodes would be shifted to season 3.
In early April, some of the cast and executive producers appeared at WonderCon in Anaheim, where they explained the move. “We were worried that we were going to have to sort of pad our arc that we had so carefully, lovingly constructed, but they actually said instead, let’s do four stand-alone episodes that can go anywhere,” explained executive producer Ildy Modrovich.
A super-sized season 3 is good news for fans, who seem particularly smitten with leading man Ellis. The actor was nominated for a 2016 Teen Choice Award for Breakout Star for his role in the Fox series, but “Lucifer” is hardly his first substantial role. Ellis cut his teeth as Dr. Oliver Cousins in the iconic BBC One soap opera “EastEnders” and as Gary Preston in the British comedy “Miranda” before endearing himself to American audiences in USA Network’s “Rush” in 2014.
Co-star German began her Hollywood career in such romances as “Down to You” (2000) and “A Walk to Remember” (2002), but also has scream queen cred thanks to roles in “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (2003) and “Hostel: Part II” (2007). As for her television work, she starred as DHS agent Lori Weston in the second season of CBS’s “Hawaii Five-0,” and appeared as paramedic Leslie Shay in the first two seasons of NBC’s “Chicago Fire.”
The rest of the cast includes a mix of beautiful Hollywood up-and-comers and established TV actors. Lucifer’s bestie is a demon named Mazikeen, or Maze for short, played by LesleyAnn Brandt (“Spartacus: Blood and Sand”). Fox alum D.B. Woodside (“24”) portrays Lucifer’s brother, Amenadiel, a dark-winged angel sent to Earth to try to convince his sibling to return to hell, and Lucifer’s inner circle also includes his Earthly therapist Dr. Linda Martin, portrayed by Rachael Harris (“Diary of a Wimpy Kid,” 2010). Near the beginning of season 2, Tricia Helfer (“Battlestar Galactica”) joined the cast as Lucifer’s mother, who escaped from her prison in hell and took over the body of a recently murdered lawyer.
Chloe’s allies include her estranged husband Det. Dan Espinoza (Kevin Alejandro, “Arrow”), who was demoted for his involvement in police corruption. Child actress Scarlett Estevez (“Daddy’s Home,” 2015) plays Chloe and Dan’s daughter, Trixie, who befriends Lucifer. Aimee Garcia (“Dexter”) joined the season 2 cast as Chloe’s LAPD colleague Ella Lopez.