‘Lucifer’: How Surprise Season 6 Renewal by Netflix Changed Upcoming Season 5

Lucifer’s surprise Season 6 renewal by Netflix caused some big changes for the shows upcoming Season 5, and now the creatives behind it all are opening up. Speaking to TV Insider, Lucifer executive producer Ildy Modrovich revealed, “We’d started writing the finale when we got word [of the last-minute renewal].” The outlet reported that Modrovich explained that this gave herself and Lucifer co-showrunner Joe Henderson more time to explore all the new plot points that arose in Seasons 4 and 5.

Among the new stories to further develop was a huge twist regarding Lucifer’s family, as well as deeper explorations for Maze (Lesley-Ann Brandt) and Linda (Rachael Harris). There was also a fan-praised black-and-white noir episode, a very meta/self-satire episode that focused on murder at a TV show about the devil. Currently, Season 6 of Lucifer does not have an announced release date, but it will be the final season for the beloved dramedy. Part 1 of Lucifer Season 5 will premiere on Aug 21. There is no word on when Part 2 of Season 5 will drop.

In 2019, series lead, Tom Ellis, spoke with Collider and commented on the difference between shooting the first few seasons of Lucifer for Fox — where it started — and then shooting the most recent seasons for Netflix. “What happens when you’re on a network and you have to do 22 episodes is that you end up diluting and elongating and really stretching out a story,” Ellis said, then adding that it is “quite a challenge.” Ellis added, “The result of having 10 episodes a season is actually a benefit for the show because you get the best version of it. You get the lean, great storytelling, for all of our characters, all the way through the 10 episodes, and it makes it more compelling.”

The actor continued: “Plus, now it all comes out at once, which means that people can do what they like to do and binge it. I’ve watched this season, and I feel like it’s our strongest season, for lots of reasons. The fact that now you can sit down and watch them, one after the other, really changes that. The end of every episode has got something where you want to know what’s next.” Seasons 1-4 of Lucifer are now streaming on Netflix. Season 5 debuts on Friday.