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At San Diego Comic-Con this year, I got the chance to take part in a roundtable interview with most of the cast and executive producers of FOX’s hit procedural drama Lucifer. After a tension-filled season two finale and the SDCC panel reveal that Smallville’s Tom Welling would be joining the show, there was certainly a lot to tease in regards to what was in store for season three.
The announcement of Welling’s addition to the cast was certainly at the forefront of discussion with both the EPs and the cast. His character will be a lieutenant in the LAPD, something the series has not had yet. In regards to changing the status quo with this addition, EP Joe Henderson said, “This team has become a bit of a family. Bringing in a new representative of power, of authority, to butt heads with our characters... that’s the fun of it.” Furthermore, those expecting to see shades of Clark Kent in the new lieutenant may be disappointed. EP Ildy Modrovich said, “You’ll be surprised with what Tom Welling does with this character. It’s not a Tom Welling you’ve seen before.”
Besides the new dynamic of adding an authority figure, Tom Welling’s lieutenant will also shake things up by taking romantic interest in Detective Chloe Decker. While Henderson and Modrovich first joked that Welling and Lucifer would spend an entire episode complimenting each other, the rivalry between the two characters soon became apparent. Tom Ellis, who plays Lucifer Morningstar, said, “One can only imagine how Lucifer feels about the detective being amorous towards someone else.” Ellis continued to explain how this kind of character interaction is something audiences haven’t seen yet. “Playing with new dynamics is always fun. Lucifer never saw Dan as an equal ever, but maybe he has met his equal in this particular occasion.”
Deckerstar fans may be interested to know that there will definitely be tension between Lucifer and Chloe this season. Ellis said, “Chloe and Lucifer’s relationship is quite complicated now because lots of stuff has happened. Ultimately, he still hasn’t really done what he did with Linda — which is show who he really is.”
Likewise, who Lucifer really is will have a major part to play this season. Ellis confirmed that the major overall theme for this season is identity. “Lucifer doesn’t want his identity to be determined by his dad. As hard as he thinks his dad is going to be pushing him in that direction to be one thing, he’s going to be pushing even harder in the other direction to prove he isn’t. That probably means he’s going to be end up being a little extra devilish [this season],” said Ellis.
For fans interested in more of Lucifer singing, there will be an episode early in the new season that may pique your interest. Aimee Garcia, who plays Ella Lopez, teased that there is an upcoming Ella-centric episode where Lucifer and Ella go on a road trip to Vegas together. Lucifer will be singing once more in the episode and Ella will be undercover as a Vegas showgirl. Garcia mentioned how genuinely excited she was for an Ella-centric episode since she loves the character so much. She went on to elaborate how unique of a character Ella is that “she’s almost angel-like. She’s not judgmental. She’s a hugger. She’s not self-conscious. She’s not defined by a romantic relationship. She’s in her own lane. She speaks Klingon, Spanish, and French. She knows how to pick a lock, but she’s a goofball. She also ran her Rubix cube competition in high school. I don’t know any other character like that.” Garcia likes that Ella does not fit into the “lab geek” or “from the ghetto” stereotypes. Moreover, Garcia appreciates that Ella’s faith, friends, work, and family are defining characteristics over romantic relationships.
Regarding Ella’s faith, Garcia is hoping to see how Ella went from severe poverty to being a woman of faith. Moreover, Garcia appreciated how the writers took the less obvious route and had the woman of faith character interact first with the devil and wait until the moment was right to have a scene with an angel. She teased that she had just filmed Ella’s first scene with the angel Amenadiel the day before, saying, “It’s a really sweet scene that I think you [fans] are going to love... You get to see Ella speaking about faith with an angel, that she doesn’t know is an angel.”
In other news of interactions with celestial beings, Charlotte returning to her mortal body now that Lucifer’s mother has left it will cause some interesting conflict regarding identity this season. Tricia Helfer, who plays Charlotte/Mama Morningstar, confirmed that mom is completely out of the picture. Moreover, Tom Ellis teased that Charlotte’s soul went to either heaven or hell while mom had control of her body. Helfer explained that Charlotte will have “a lot of snippets or flashes of things that may have happened. There’s going to be a lot of her not understanding but having a gut feeling about things. She’s trying to find out who she is now.”
Also struggling after the events of the finale, Linda is dealing, or not dealing, with her near-death experience. According to Rachael Harris, who plays Linda, “First, [Linda] thinks she’s handling everything just fine, until she’s not.” Harris discussed how Linda is in denial about her ability to deal with everything that has gone on, and how she begins to crack under the pressure. Linda is so used to taking care of other people, it makes being aware of her own issues difficult. Harris went on to say that Linda “does need help. She does need someone to talk to. She will find that and seek that out. Who that will be? It’s an unlikely person, and it’s pretty great.”
Harris went on to mention how much she enjoyed the female friendships on the show. She said, “I like that there are more women on this show than men.” She went on to mention that while Maze and Linda’s friendship remains strong, Linda and Chloe will be connecting in a way that’s new. Harris teased that Chloe does make a visit to Dr. Linda which leads to another girls’ night.
Lastly, one of the other new changes for the show this season is the move of production from Vancouver to Los Angeles, the show’s actual setting. Both Henderson and Modrovich mentioned that the move was bittersweet since they miss the crew based in Vancouver. However, both agreed that L.A. has a unique quality that works for the show and can be felt in each scene. When describing why L.A. works as the show’s setting, Modrovich said, “The world of L.A. is a sparkly place. Also, there’s an underbelly to it. It just fits with the duality that’s the theme of our show — the light within the darkness. That’s L.A. When you walk around L.A. it is so beautiful, but there’s also something broken about it.”
Lucifer returns to FOX on Monday, October 2 at 8 PM EST.