Lucifer’s co-showrunner teases season 6’s musical episode, which was made with the help of the Harley Quinn team. The series, which premiered in 2016, follows the character of Lucifer Morningstar (Tom Ellis) as he abandons Hell and decides to live in Los Angeles. Morningstar initially opens his own nightclub and soon finds himself acting as a consultant for the LAPD.
The show has evolved past its procedural trappings, gradually introducing mythology and welcoming more characters into the fold. Part of the reason for the success of Lucifer, allowing it to be saved by Netflix after being canceled by Fox, has been in its willingness to experiment with the show’s formula. There’s been a musical episode of Lucifer, a noir episode, an episode that makes a supporting character into the main protagonist, and others. The trailer for the sixth and final season of Lucifer, arriving on September 10, revealed an animated adventure. Joe Henderson, the co-showrunner and executive producer of Lucifer, has revealed how it all came together.
In an interview with Collider, Henderson noted that he’d always wanted to put an animated spin on Lucifer. He explained that, as has been true for a lot of shows, COVID-19 allowed the writers of the Netflix series to experiment with an animated format. While he stopped short of revealing how Lucifer and Chloe turn into cartoons for the episode, which is titled “Yabba Dabba Do Me”, Henderson stressed that the premise would feel “organic” to the spirit of the show. The showrunner also praised Harley Quinn supervising producer Jennifer Coyle and the team of animators on the HBO Max series, as they helped to craft the episode. Henderson’s quote has been included below.
“We were sort of talking about doing a Hanna-Barbera style, and then they actually worked a bunch of Looney Tunes influence in there as well, which you very much see in there. I mean, we gave them our instincts and they just flew. They’re amazing. Like they’re just incredible to work with. I mean, we had the starting point, but they brought it to life.”
Henderson is correct in pointing out that while COVID-19 restricted storytelling avenues in some ways, it freed up others. Several shows, from the long-running crime drama The Blacklist to the critically-acclaimed comedy PEN15, have done animated installments recently. Lucifer, for its part, has the added benefit of working with the Harley Quinn team. Since its premiere in 2019, Harley Quinn has been praised in some corners as one of the best adaptations of any DC character. In particular, reviewers have singled out that show’s ability to utilize animation in a way that informs the characters. Henderson alludes to that very quality in his remarks, which will make “Yabba Dabba Do Me” interesting to watch once it becomes available on Netflix.
And, in general, perhaps taking a cue from its titular Devil, Lucifer tends to have fun whenever it gets the chance to twist its procedural structure. The series’ musical episode was a standout, with particular praise given to how the cast approached their performances with gusto. In a different vein, the noir episode allowed the show to play around with established relationships and bring back former series regulars in new roles. Looking at the show’s track record, in addition to the talent involved both in front of and behind the camera, it’s possible that the positive trend will continue.
Source: Collider