‘Lucifer’ Actor Dennis Haysbert Reacts to Show’s Massive Streaming Stats

Dennis Haysbert is feeling a little extra thankful for fans. After new viewing data showed that Lucifer, the Netflix series on which the actor stars as God to Tom Ellis’ Lucifer Morningstar, dominated Nielsen’s streaming ratings in the week after its Season 5 premiere, Haysbert couldn’t help but take to social media to react to the massive numbers the show has pulled in.

In a tweet, Haysbert celebrated the fact that, “so far Netflix subscribers have watched over 1.8 billion minutes of [Lucifer].” The actor didn’t let it pass him that the credit should go to fans, whose petitioning is at least partly responsible for Netflix having picked the series up following its cancellation at Fox in 2018. In a play of his on-screen counterpart, whose role he has filled since 2020, Haysbert wrote, “God thanks you for tuning in!”

According to Nielsen’s streaming data, Lucifer was watched for 1.6 billion minutes between May 24 and 30, with those numbers being enough to outperform the Netflix blockbuster Army of the Dead (786 million minutes) and the broadcast TV staples Grey’s Anatomy (633 million) and Criminal Minds (616 million), which are available on both Netflix and Hulu. Lucifer, however, was not done pulling in success. A separate report from IndieWire, also pulling form Nielsen streaming data, showed that from May 31 to June 6, watchers spent over 1.83 billion minutes watching Lucifer. For that same time period, the supernatural series outdid other big titles, including Netflix’s Sweet Tooth (794 million) and The Kominsky Method (507 million), and Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale (473 million). For reference, Lucifer Season 5, Part 2 premiered on May 28.

At this time, Netflix has not released its own viewing data for the series, which is based on DC Comics character Lucifer Morningstar and follows the character after he grows bored with reigning over hell and abandons his post for Los Angeles. The streamer is notoriously selective when it comes to its streaming data, only releasing numbers on rare occasions. In recent months, though, Netflix has given subscribers at least a little insight into the success and popularity of the titles on its platform via its Top 10 lists. Following the premiere of Season 5, Part 2, Lucifer led the Top 10 list overall for both movies and series for several weeks.

Along with Haysbert and Ellis, Lucifer stars Lauren German, D.B. Woodside, Kevin Alejandro, Lesley-Ann Brandt, Aimee Garcia, Inbar Lavi, and Graham McTavish. The series was initially set to end after Season 5, though Netflix reversed that decision and gifted the show a sixth and final season, which has already wrapped filming. Although Season 6 does not yet have a premiere date, all previous seasons of Lucifer are available for streaming on Netflix.