Fantasy crime series Lucifer has been renewed for a fifth season at Netflix, which will also be its last. The series originally aired for three seasons on Fox before being cancelled in May 2018 when the network couldn’t justify the cost of continuing to produce the show, despite its demonstrable popularity. The streaming giant stepped in a month later to pick it up for a further ten episodes, and released season 4 almost a year to the day it originally got the ax.
Lucifer follows the former king of Hell after he became bored with his existence of torturing damned souls and came to Earth, opening a nightclub and fully intending to party away the rest of eternity. Upon meeting police detective Chloe Decker, who is initially immune to his charm and for unclear reasons nullifies his invulnerability to mortal weapons, he becomes a consultant for the LAPD, aiding in the hunt for criminals to continue his mission of punishing the guilty. As well as a police procedural with fantasy and horror grace notes, the series was also rooted in the gradual development of a romance between Lucifer and Chloe, which season 4 furthered in complication by creating a love triangle with the introduction of a new (old) romantic interest in the shape of the Biblical Eve.
The report of Lucifer’s renewal and forthcoming ending came from TVLine, confirming what many people were already confident about. Netflix is famously cagey about releasing its viewing figures or fully explaining by what metric it renews and cancels shows, but Lucifer has certainly proved popular enough that its continuation seemed to never be in doubt.
Showrunners Joe Henderson and Ildy Modrovich stated:
“We are so incredibly thankful to Netflix for resurrecting our show last season, and now letting us finish the story of Lucifer on our terms. Most importantly, we want to thank the fans for their incredible passion and support. The best is yet to come!”
A short video from series star Tom Ellis, posted to the show’s official Twitter account, eloquently summed up his own reaction to the news.
Although a famous religious and mythological entity who it’s safe to assume everyone in the Western world has heard of, this interpretation of Lucifer was originated by Neil Gaiman early on in his seminal fantasy comic book series Sandman. The character was later spun off into his own eponymous series written by Mike Carey, following the fallen angel’s adventures after abdicating the responsibility of ruling Hell. Aside from the use of a few characters and Lucifer’s refusal to lie being the inversion of his standard depiction, the series takes little cue from the comics and is almost entirely an original creation, forging its own path without feeling beholden to the pre-existing mythos.
Although no plot details for season 5 of Lucifer have been announced, they will almost certainly revolve around the finale of season 4 and the fallout from its ending, establishing how, or indeed if, status quo will again be restored. With a series finale to work towards, the writers will have enough space in the likely 10-13 episodes to craft a conclusion that will satisfy the fans who stuck by the show through its troubles, giving them, in the words of a statement from Netflix “the big finish they’ve all been waiting for.”
Source: TVLine