Tom Ellis is reluctant to bring back Lucifer, but he reveals the two conditions that could make the show’s revival possible.
Lucifer followed Tom Ellis’ eponymous character as he abandons Hell and moves to Los Angeles to work as a consultant for the police department. Lucifer Morningstar helped solve crimes for six seasons, but the show’s lead actor won’t return for a seventh. However, Ellis did clarify that if two particular conditions are met, he’d consider reprising the role.
In an interview on the Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum podcast, the actor was asked about the possibility of Season 7. Ellis explained that although a seventh season of the show does not interest him, he’d consider returning to the role for a film, and if the script was good. The actor also emphasized his distaste for reviving a show for financial reasons. “It’s not just doing it for the sake of doing it,” he said. He cites his experience on the British sitcom Miranda as part of why he would only return for a great Lucifer movie script.
“Miranda, for example, we only ever did 20 episodes in total. And it’s still iconic, and it still has an afterlife that people revisit,” he said. “But the reason we only did that many is because Miranda didn’t want to do anymore. And she didn’t want to write anymore because it took so much. But she wrote all the episodes of it. And she felt like she’d done it. And, you know, to beat it around the head and dilute it as a product just for the sake of making more and more and more and more. She didn’t want to do that, and I had so much respect for her for making that decision because the BBC were desperate for it.”
Tom Ellis Would Need to Approve the Lucifer Movie Script
Ellis also expressed his frustration with Hollywood’s incessant need for more sequels and reboots and remakes, saying, “It would have to be, you know, we’d have to sign off on like, what the script was, and all those things. Because I feel like one of the weird things certainly about working over here is there’s so much like, when you’re somebody successful, people just want more and more and more and more and more. Whereas, where I’m from, you know, leave them wanting more is the motto. And it was never such a sort of financially commercially based industry back in the UK.”
Lucifer ran for 6 seasons, which saw the fallen angel Lucifer Morningstar (based on the DC character) turn from a devious, debaucherous devil to a more caring and considerate one. Throughout the series, he becomes romantically entangled with Chloe, a detective for the LAPD. The series finale sees Lucifer reach a major decision, to return to Hell to help damned souls repent and ascend to Heaven, which he does for the sake of Rory, his and Chloe’s daughter. The finality of the series makes it far better suited for a movie follow-up than a Season 7 revival.
Aside from Ellis, the cast of Lucifer featured Lauren German, Lesley-Ann Brandt, Scarlett Estevez, Rachael Harris, Kevin Alejandro, D. B. Woodside, Kevin Rankin, Tricia Helfer, and Aimee Garcia. The series is available for streaming on Netflix.
