‘Lucifer’ Star Lands New TV Role After Character’s Death

A Lucifer fan-favorite has lined up his next project. Lucifer viewers were crushed when Kevin Alejandro‘s Detective Dan Espinoza was killed off in Season 5, Part 2, but luckily the actor has picked his next project. The Wrap reports that Alejandro will be starring in a limited series adaptation of the 2018 novel Life During Wartime, which tells the story of Jim Vargas, a man dealing with PTSD and survivor’s guilt after his brother dies on 9/11.

According to The Wrap, Life During Wartime is set against “the 2008 backdrop of the financial crisis, Vargas’ Iraq war veteran niece Nina Vargas goes missing after a nightmare-ish party with other vets. When no one searches for the missing vet he decides to investigate alongside her friend and former army nurse Lise Sheridan.” Alejandro’s production company Alejandro Films Productions, that he founded alongside Leslie Alejandro and Dani de Jesus, secured the rights to Katie Rogin’s novel but no streaming service or network has yet picked up the project.

“The process of healing after trauma has no rules, everyone has to figure out their own path towards reconciliation and recovery,” the Alejandros and executive producer Craig Anderson said in a joint statement. “Life After Wartime observes, dramatizes and gets inside this struggle and ultimately confronts the disorder. Can it be conquered or is it just survival? I am moved by anyone who wrestles with this experience.”

Alejandro, also known for his work on True Blood and Southland, was a major part of Lucifer’s first 5 seasons and was particularly moved by the “Save Lucifer” moment that pushed the fantasy show from Fox to Netflix after its initial cancellation. “I didn’t know what to expect, honestly,” Alejandro told Cinemablend about the fan response. “We were all in such shock and despair, and then when that poured out, we were like, whoa, what is happening? And we’re still that way. It’s giving us hope, actually. As actors and producers and people in this industry, we know that when you attach yourself to a project, that inevitably is going to end so that you can move forward and do something else, but it never makes it easy. Especially when you get with a group of people like what we’ve had that created such a strong bond. I think because we’re so close it just sort of heightened everyone’s emotions about losing that battle of staying on the air.”