Lucifer Season 1 TV Series

Lucifer is an American urban fantasy television series developed by Tom Kapinos that began airing on January 25, 2016, and concluded on September 10, 2021. It revolves around Lucifer Morningstar (Tom Ellis), an alternate version of the DC Comics character of the same name created by Neil Gaiman, Sam Kieth, and Mike Dringenberg. In the series, Lucifer is the devil but abandons Hell to run a nightclub in Los Angeles, subsequently experiencing massive life changes when he becomes a consultant to the Los Angeles Police Department. The supporting cast includes Lauren German, Kevin Alejandro, D. B. Woodside, Lesley-Ann Brandt, Rachael Harris, and Aimee Garcia.

Jerry Bruckheimer Television, DC Entertainment, and Warner Bros. Television served as producers. Filming took place primarily in Vancouver before production was relocated entirely to Los Angeles at the start of the third season. The first season received mixed reviews from critics, and its original broadcaster Fox canceled it after three seasons in May 2018. One month later, Netflix picked up the show following the fanbase’s campaign to save it, and the series continued for a further three seasons; it consistently earned high viewership during its time on Netflix.

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Lucifer Season 1 TV Series

STORY

Episodes 1

“Pilot”

In 2016, five years after abandoning his post as the ruler of Hell, Lucifer Morningstar continues to run a high-end nightclub in Los Angeles named Lux. When he witnesses a drug dealer murdering Delilah, a pop star he had helped become successful, he persuades LAPD detective Chloe Decker to let him help her track down whoever hired the assassin. He must also deal with his brother, the angel Amenadiel Canaan, who has been tasked by their father with making Lucifer return to oversee Hell. Lucifer and Chloe discover that record producer Jimmy Barnes hired the drug dealer to kill Delilah. Jimmy shoots Chloe, prompting Lucifer to briefly discard his human form and show Jimmy his true “Devil face”, which terrifies Jimmy and immediately sends him insane before he is arrested. Chloe survives and Lucifer decides that he would like to keep working with her.

Episodes 2

“Lucifer, Stay. Good Devil.”

Lucifer undergoes the legal procedure to become an official civilian consultant to the LAPD. With Chloe recovering from being shot, Lucifer uncovers the truth about the death of an actor’s son from a paparazzo who has confessed to causing the car crash. He also learns that Chloe abandoned her previous career as an actress due to the death of her father, who was a police officer. The investigation reveals the paparazzo had a slightly disturbed intern named Josh, who took his employer’s motto of “always be first [to take a photo]” too far and began instigating events and causing murders. Lucifer attempts to give the two a preview of the punishment they will receive in Hell, but is instead convinced by Chloe that they will pay for their crimes in jail.

Episodes 3

“The Would-Be Prince of Darkness”

Lucifer attends a house party hosted by star quarterback Ty Huntley,^[b] where he is confused when a woman he tries to charm accuses him of being someone pretending to be Lucifer, who she claims to have already met. He convinces Huntley, a virgin who wants to wait for marriage, to accept a woman’s sexual advances. The next morning, Ty wakes Lucifer up and asks him for a favor; he finds the woman’s corpse in Ty’s swimming pool, while Ty claims to have no memory of the night before. Lucifer calls in Chloe. The woman’s phone reveals footage of Ty and the woman having sex, and Chloe arrests Ty on circumstantial evidence. Ty’s manager, Joe, bails him out and directs Chloe to Ty’s ex Debra. However, Debra has an alibi, and an attempt on her life is traced back to a fixer named Ronnie Hillman. Chloe organizes a sting at Lux to target Ronnie; Lucifer uses the sting to have Ronnie bring him the man ruining his reputation by pretending to be him, then betrays Ronnie to the police. Ronnie reveals that the victim was her protégé and was hired by Joe, who is arrested before admitting that he accidentally choked the victim to death in order to get the sex tape footage to blackmail Ty into staying with his agency. Ty and Debra happily reunite.

Episodes 4

“Manly Whatnots”

Chloe and Lucifer investigate the case of a missing girl, Lindsay Jolson, who was involved with a pickup artist. The investigation is complicated by Lucifer’s repeated attempts to seduce Chloe in an effort to better understand her, as she is the first human in all of history who seems immune to his charms. Meanwhile, Amenadiel confronts a reluctant Mazikeen / Maze about Lucifer. It is revealed that Lindsay faked her kidnapping with her brother, and had previously lost her virginity to the pickup artist, who reduced her to little more than “research” for his book and did not remember her. She romanced him as revenge, getting him to genuinely fall in love with her. Chloe stops Lucifer from punishing the siblings, but is disturbed when she catches a glimpse of his Devil face in a reflection. Growing tired of Lucifer’s insistence that he is immortal and invulnerable to human damage, Chloe finally accepts his request to shoot him in the leg as a test. However, to Lucifer’s bewilderment, he feels pain and begins to bleed.

Episodes 5

“Sweet Kicks”

Chloe begs Lucifer to help her in a case involving an artist and high-end shoe designer who was once in a dangerous street gang. Lucifer agrees, excited to test his mortality after discovering that he can now be damaged by human means. It turns out that the death at the artist’s fashion show was unintended, as he intended to make his product seem more desired, causing two Los Angeles gangs to nearly start a war in the process. Chloe and Lucifer attempt to defuse the situation, but end up saved by Maze, who hospitalizes all of the gangsters. Amenadiel surprises Lucifer’s therapist, Dr. Linda Martin, by showing up at her office after hours and claiming to be a fellow therapist who has just moved into the office next door. The two agree to have drinks and openly discuss patients.

Episodes 6

“Favorite Son”

When a warehouse is robbed and the security guard is murdered, it turns out that Lucifer is the owner of a shipping container that was stolen. He and Chloe work to find the culprit, which Lucifer sees as protecting his reputation in the city; he gives Chloe a vague statement that a gift from his father is inside the container, making it extremely valuable. Meanwhile, he continues to struggle with his identity, and Amenadiel continues trying to use Linda to get to him. Lucifer and Chloe manage to track down the container; Lucifer shows Chloe that it contains a small box filled with Russian dolls, much to the disappointment of Chloe, who was suspicious of how adamant he was in not telling her what was in the container. However, when Chloe leaves, Lucifer opens a hidden door at the back of the container to reveal that someone has stolen the true gift his father gave him—his angel wings.

Episodes 7

“Wingman”

Lucifer continues the search for his wings and asks Amenadiel to help him, but is rejected and turns to Chloe for help. Chloe asks her ex-husband and fellow detective Dan Espinoza for help in investigating the Palmetto case, an incident in which a detective named Malcolm Graham was shot and put into a coma while in the middle of what Chloe believed to be a secret meeting with a criminal. Her suspicions of Malcolm have led to her being vilified at the police precinct, and she asks Dan to help her find evidence against Malcolm. The wings are apparently about to be sold at an auction attended by Lucifer, who finds that Amenadiel has shown up to help him. Lucifer regains his wings; realizing that Amenadiel plotted the theft from the beginning, he invites Amenadiel to the beach, where he lights his wings on fire. An anguished Amenadiel watches, now unable to trick Lucifer back into returning to Hell. Meanwhile, Chloe and Dan find a new lead on the Palmetto case.

Episodes 8

“Et Tu, Doctor?”

Feeling reborn, Lucifer celebrates his “re-birthday” at Lux. Malcolm, who wakes up from his coma after Amenadiel brings his soul up from Hell, also celebrates coming back. Chloe and Lucifer investigate the murder of a controversial couples therapist who encourages lovers to cheat on each other as a way of saving their relationships. Lucifer shoehorns Linda into the case in an attempt to “solve” Chloe’s issues with Dan. While solving the murder case, Lucifer realizes what is happening to him. Malcolm breaks into Chloe’s house and warns her not to keep digging into the Palmetto case, as whoever shot him dead clearly does not have a problem shooting cops. Chloe and Lucifer look for Malcolm’s partner, but find him dead with a suicide note. Dan secretly meets with Malcolm.

Episodes 9

“A Priest Walks into a Bar”

Lucifer is surprised when he is asked for a favor by a priest named Frank Lawrence, but turns Frank away. They meet again when Chloe pulls Lucifer into a murder case involving Arietta, a youth counselor whom Frank claims was trying to get Frank’s foster son Connor involved with drug trafficking. After an attempt on Frank’s life, Lucifer hides him at Lux, where they bond over playing the piano. Frank gets a call to meet Connor at church, where a drug dealer nicknamed Spider orders Connor to shoot Frank. When he fails to do so, Spider shoots at Connor, but Frank takes the bullet and dies in Lucifer’s arms. Before dying, Frank shocks Lucifer by implying that he knows who Lucifer truly is. A furious Lucifer nearly chokes Spider to death, but Chloe convinces him to stop as Frank would not want this. Later, an impatient Amenadiel reminds Malcolm that he brought Malcolm back from Hell solely to kill Lucifer, thus forcing Lucifer back to his role as lord of Hell.

Episodes 10

“Pops”

Chloe and Lucifer investigate the murder of Javier Aries, the poisoned head chef and owner of an upscale Mexican restaurant whose work Lucifer adores. Suspicion falls on Javier’s son, a recovering drug addict named Junior, alongside the sous-chef Anne, who would inherit the restaurant if Junior was out of the picture. Things are complicated by the surprise arrival of Chloe’s mother, Penelope, whom Lucifer also really admires. Chloe and Penelope argue about Chloe and Dan’s seven-year-old daughter Trixie. Overhearing this, Trixie runs away to Lux to find Lucifer, but instead ends up befriending Mazikeen. Later, Mazikeen starts visiting Linda as a patient. Malcolm reveals his plan to kill Lucifer to Dan, which Dan refuses to let happen despite his annoyance at Lucifer’s interference with Chloe and Dan’s unexpected interest in rekindling their relationship. The two fight and Dan is knocked unconscious before Malcolm takes Dan’s phone and, pretending to be Dan, breaks up with Chloe via text.

Episodes11

“St. Lucifer”

A drunken Chloe arrives at Lux and tries to sleep with Lucifer to distract herself from being dumped by Dan via text, but Lucifer refuses to take advantage of her, much to the surprise of them both. After doing the morally correct thing, Lucifer experiences a strange feeling of euphoria. Believing that good deeds can give him a high equal to that of drug use, he is excited to delve into his and Chloe’s current case: investigating the death of Tim Dunlear, an athlete who retired and subsequently reached even greater levels of recognition due to his charity work. Lucifer discovers that Tim’s wife embezzled funds from a charity to build a school in a third-world country and killed Tim to keep it secret; he hosts an event for Tim’s charity at Lux, where he outs Tim’s wife to the crowd while she is giving a speech. Lucifer is disappointed to find that he does not get the good feeling from simply doing a good deed for no reason, and only gets it if he genuinely wants to help whoever is receiving his assistance. Amenadiel finds an unlikely companion in Mazikeen. Meanwhile, Dan is being held captive by Malcolm, and tries to escape and warn Lucifer before Malcolm gets to him.

Episodes 12

“#TeamLucifer”

Lucifer becomes paranoid after figuring out that being in the vicinity of Chloe is what makes him physically vulnerable. When a member of a group of Satanists is killed, Lucifer is disturbed that anyone would kill in his name. When it turns out that Malcolm is the one killing people to honor him, Lucifer threatens to torture him but is interrupted by Amenadiel, who allows Malcolm to escape. The brothers fight until Maze stops them. Chloe soon stops by Lux to talk to Lucifer, but instead finds the corpse of the street preacher who was seen arguing with Lucifer on TV, and sets out to prove that Lucifer was framed despite her initial belief that he is guilty.

Episodes 13

“Take Me Back to Hell”

Amenadiel saves Lucifer from being arrested by Chloe, and they go to Amenadiel’s office to talk. Linda shows up and advises the two, who go looking for Malcolm while Mazikeen helps Chloe find Lucifer. Amenadiel finds Malcolm and they fight, but Malcolm—having stolen one of Mazikeen’s daggers from Lux, knowing that it is one of the only things that can harm an angel—stabs Amenadiel in the stomach. Mazikeen takes Amenadiel to Lux and saves his life, relying on the healing properties of a feather she secretly kept after she accepted Lucifer’s request to cut off his wings with her daggers. Dan turns himself in for helping Malcolm, thus clearing Lucifer of the murder.

Chloe seizes the money Malcolm needs to leave town, and he kidnaps Trixie to force her to give it back. At the exchange, Lucifer is fatally shot when he tries to save Chloe and Trixie despite Chloe insisting that he let her go alone. Lucifer prays to his father and offers to return to oversee Hell if he protects Chloe. After briefly sending Lucifer down to Hell to see what has happened in his absence, his father accepts his offer and revives Lucifer. Malcolm is attacked by Lucifer, then shot to death by Chloe. He expresses no regrets while dying, as he has a special coin that will grant him yet another exit from Hell; however, Lucifer reveals that he stole the coin from Malcolm, and destroys it in front of him. Amenadiel later wakes up at Lux, where Lucifer tells him that their father accepted his offer and wants him to track down a soul who has escaped from Hell as part of the deal. Noticing that Lucifer is uncharacteristically scared, Amenadiel asks him who escaped. Lucifer, terrified, reveals it to be their mother.

CAST

• Tom Ellis as Lucifer Morningstar: Bored with his life as the Lord of Hell, Lucifer abandons his throne to run his own high-end nightclub in Los Angeles while working as a civilian consultant for the local police. In season 5, Ellis also portrays Lucifer’s twin brother Michael, who briefly takes over his brother’s identity after Lucifer returns to Hell.
• Lauren German as Detective Chloe Decker: A homicide detective and former actress whose late father was an LAPD officer. She solves crimes with Lucifer, who takes an interest in her upon noticing that she seems to be the first human he has ever encountered who is immune to his charms.
• Kevin Alejandro as Detective Daniel “Dan” Espinoza: An LAPD homicide detective and Chloe’s ex-husband. He develops a complicated friendship with Lucifer as they often clash and insult each other, partly due to the fact that Lucifer and Chloe slowly become romantically involved.
• D. B. Woodside as Amenadiel: Lucifer’s older brother, he is an angel and the eldest of all their siblings. He arrives in Los Angeles to encourage Lucifer to go back to Hell, and failing that, he attempts to force Lucifer back in different ways. He later becomes the father of the first half-angel/half-human baby in history with Linda.
• Lesley-Ann Brandt as Mazikeen: A confidante and devoted ally of Lucifer who goes by “Maze” for short. She is a demon who, having served as Lucifer’s head torturer, joins him in Los Angeles to act as a bartender and bodyguard at his club. In the second season, Maze looks for a new direction on Earth and becomes a bounty hunter. She marries Eve in the final season. In season 5, Brandt also portrays the demon Lilith, who is Maze’s mother and Lucifer’s ex-lover.
• Scarlett Estevez as Beatrice “Trixie” Espinoza (seasons 1–4, recurring seasons 5–6): Chloe and Dan’s young daughter who befriends Lucifer and Mazikeen, initially to their chagrin.
• Rachael Harris as Dr. Linda Martin: Lucifer’s Stanford-educated psychotherapist. In season 4, she and Amenadiel welcome their son Charlie, who is considered the first half-angel/half-human baby in history.
• Kevin Rankin as Detective Malcolm Graham (season 1): A crooked police officer who was shot prior to the beginning of the series. He briefly died but then is brought back from Hell by Amenadiel to kill Lucifer.
• Aimee Garcia as Ella Lopez (seasons 2–6): A forensic scientist for the LAPD from Detroit. In season 3, it is revealed that Ella had been regularly visited by Lucifer’s sister “Rae-Rae” Azrael, the Angel of Death, after surviving a car crash in her youth. She is known for her bubbly personality and almost endless optimism and enthusiasm.
• Tricia Helfer as Mum / Goddess (season 2; guest season 5) and Charlotte Richards (seasons 2–3; guest season 6) and as Shirley Monroe (guest season 5/episode 4): Lucifer and Amenadiel’s mother and exiled wife of God, who has escaped her prison in Hell. She is described as “the goddess of all creation”. On Earth, her soul occupies the body of Charlotte Richards, a murdered lawyer. After she leaves the universe at the end of the second season, the human Charlotte is resurrected. Having lived in Hell during this short time for defending several criminals, Charlotte seeks the redemption she finds by helping Lucifer and Chloe on two cases, then gets a prosecutor job and abandons her law firm. She is the 2nd person in total to whom Lucifer reveals his angel wings, and she helps Amenadiel on an investigation on Marcus Pierce. Charlotte is murdered at the end of season 3 by Marcus/Cain after saving Amenadiel. In season 5, Goddess briefly returns from her universe to reunite with God, who chooses to retire with Goddess to her universe. In the series finale, Charlotte briefly returns, sharing a meal in Heaven with Dan, with whom she had a romantic history prior to her murder.
• Tom Welling as Lieutenant Marcus Pierce / Cain (season 3): A highly respected police lieutenant who oversees the work of Chloe, Dan, and Ella at the LAPD. He is revealed to be the immortal Cain, Adam and Eve’s son and Abel’s brother. He is the world’s first murderer, condemned to wander the Earth forever with the Mark of Cain.^[
• Inbar Lavi as Eve (season 4; guest season 5; recurring season 6): The world’s first female human who recently left Heaven, Cain’s mother and former lover of Lucifer. She eventually becomes a bounty hunter and marries Maze.
• Brianna Hildebrand as Aurora, aka Rory (season 6): A half-human-half-angel (Nephilim) who shows up in Hell and then on Earth seeking vengeance on Lucifer. She absconds to Earth with Dan’s soul in an attempt to learn how to kill Lucifer. She is later revealed to be Chloe’s and Lucifer’s daughter from the future, who is enraged with Lucifer for his apparent abandonment of her before she was even born. She has blades instead of feathers in her wings, which can hurt Lucifer.

PRODUCTION

Development

In September 2014, DC and Fox were developing a television series based on the Sandman character Lucifer, as originally written by Neil Gaiman. The series is a “loose adaptation” of the original comic book. In May 2015, the series was officially picked up for 13 episodes for the 2015–16 season. Fox then hired Almost Human alum Joe Henderson as showrunner, with Kapinos remaining on the series in a lesser capacity.

In an interview, actress Lesley-Ann Brandt stated that production for the fifth season was “99% finished”, with production all completed except for half of the final episode before suspending production due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Production resumed on September 24, 2020, to finish the final episode of the fifth season and begin production of the sixth season.

RELEASE

January 25, 2016