[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers through the series finale of Lucifer, “Partners ‘Til the End.”]
After six seasons, the TV series Lucifer, which started its life on Fox before finding a home at Netflix, is ending its run with enough twists and turns worthy of a final season. While wondering whether he really had it in him to become God, Lucifer Morningstar (Tom Ellis) made some life-altering decisions, with Chloe Decker (Lauren German) by his side every step of the way, which affected, reverberated, and created consequences for everyone around him, in ways that were heartwarming, bittersweet, and a long time coming.
During this in-depth 1-on-1 interview with Collider, which you can both watch and read, show star Ellis dug deep into all of the spoilers and talked about feeling satisfied with the conclusion to the series that he’s spent six years on, adjusting the ending of the show when Netflix ordered an additional season late into filming Season 5, getting animated, his reaction to the Rory (Brianna Hildebrand) storyline, his feelings about where the other characters ended up, the final song he wanted to work in, and leaving the Corvette behind. He also talked about what it’s been like to shoot the Netflix rom-com Players, and why he’s not in any rush to do another long-running TV show.
Collider: It's good to talk to you, but it's sad to be talking about the end of Lucifer.
TOM ELLIS: I know. Strange times.
Has the end finally really sunk in now? With the show finished filming and now doing this last round of press to talk about the last season, does it feel like the last season is done?
ELLIS: It doesn’t yet. I think knowing that the show has gotta drop and talking about the show still, it doesn’t feel like I’m able to truly let it go yet. But it’s gonna be a very interesting day on September 10th when the show drops because that’s it. I think it will slowly start to sink in then. I’m in New York working, at the moment, but I’ve still had it programmed into me that, year after year, I’m gonna go back to Lucifer and we’ll start shooting. I haven’t had that experience yet of going, “Oh, we’re not going back,” but I think it’s about to happen. I’m about to wrap on this job here and I’ll be like, “What’s next?” And it’s definitely not Lucifer. It’s a strange time in my life, but I feel very satisfied about the last six years, for sure.
It must have been strange not to even be able to have a big wrap party celebration, doing the show during COVID.
ELLIS: Yeah, that was tough, not being able to properly celebrate with everybody and say goodbye properly. I still feel like, at some point, we’ll all try to get together and round it off, in a suitable Lucifer manner. It was really tough shooting during COVID, and certainly shooting the final season during COVID, because I felt like I wasn’t ever truly able to express to the people around me, how I felt about them, but at least we got to do it. We all felt very grateful that we were working at the time.
When was the point that you actually found out what the official ending of the series would be?
ELLIS: When we were shooting Season 5, we thought that was the final season. I sat with [showrunners Joe Henderson and Ildy Modrovich] for a while and we mused for a long time about what the end of the show should be, and we all agreed on this particular ending. And then, of course, we were thrown a slight curveball at the end, when Netflix asked us to do another season. But I think that we had managed to preserve the notion and certainly what we thought the end of the show should be. So, I’ve known loosely how the show was gonna end for a while. The thing that was new to me was the storyline of Season 6 and how we ended up getting back to where we were planning on ending.
I know you had gotten that pick-up announcement during the season, so things had to shift. That’s why I was curious how much had to then get added for an additional season.
ELLIS: It was very late in the day. I remember being in the production office and Joe and Ildy came to say, “Do you wanna hear something funny?” And I was like, “They’ve offered us another season?” And they were like, “Uh huh.” We’d already broken the finale. We’d already talked about what it was and the writers had gone off to write it, so it was very, very late in the day. It was a little bit of a mental rehash for me to get my head around it. That feels like quite a long time ago now. Lots of stuff has happened since then. There’s been a thing called a global pandemic since then.
I absolutely love that part of your first episode this season is set inside of the Magic Castle and incorporates magic, because I’m such a magic fan myself. It makes sense that Lucifer would be too, since it does have a bit of a mischievous and rebellious air about it. How did that come about? Are you a fan of magic? Whose idea was all of that?
ELLIS: We have a writer on our staff, called Mike Costa, who is a member of the Magic Castle and is huge into magic. He’s a magic nerd, we should say. Basically, over the years, in the writers’ room, they talk about, “Wouldn’t it be great, if we did an episode here or an episode there?” And the Magic Castle was an episode that they’ve talked about for a while and never been able to facilitate it within what we’d be doing the next season. And then, when the Season 6 opportunity came in, I think they felt in the writers’ room that they finally had this opportunity to do the Magic Castle episode that they’d wanted to do. So, it’s been simmering away, really, in the writers’ room of Lucifer, for a few years. I think Mike was absolutely delighted when it finally, when he finally came up, and being the opening of the season as well was a big deal.
It was definitely a fun episode.
ELLIS: It really is, yeah. That episode, to me, is a little bit like the calm before the storm. You’ve had this big ending to Season 5, and then it’s a month later and not much has really happened. We’ve got this period of procrastination that our characters have been going through. It’s quite a small-ish story in a small and intimate setting to start the season off. We needed to give ourselves somewhere to go, so it felt very appropriate.
What was it like to find out about the whole Rory storyline and know that you’d be bringing in time travel and a future daughter? With all of these crazy things happening, what were you most excited about exploring with that? What were you most nervous about, with putting this in the show in the last season?
ELLIS: When I first heard the time travel storyline, I was like, “What?!” But that’s not been the first time I’ve had that kind of reaction to an idea that Joe and Ildy have pitched me. Then, we realized that we have the luxury within this show, a certain license to go crazy and zany. As long as we all commit to it, then everyone seems to come with us. We’ve taken a few swings over the years and people have really embraced the swings that we’ve taken. In this case, there’s no reason why that shouldn’t happen as well. My one thing with what you said, about being nervous about it, is that introducing a new character in the final season of something where people really love our characters and we’re trying to round their stories off could be seen as a bit of a risk, if you want your audience to feel something for that character as well. But at the same time, the character that we’re introducing, there is so much feeling for that character from our lead characters that we are able, by proxy as an audience member, to deeply care about this relationship.
What was it like for you guys to bring in Brianna Hildebrand? How did you and Lauren German navigate that dynamic with her?
ELLIS: Brianna was great. I loved working with her. It was interesting, actually. Brianna is an innately shy person. She holds her cards close to her chest and she’s a bit of an observer. She’s got a wicked sense of humor. Much like Lucifer, I found myself, as Tom, trying to impress myself on her. That echoes both on and off-screen. I always felt like I was playing catch up with her. I just really, really wanted her to like me. That was a similar energy to what Lucifer was going through. Once he caved in and realized that this was their daughter and all of those things, he just wanted her to love him. I was able to play that out quite nicely with Brianna because she is this innately shy person who doesn’t give too much away.
But by the end of it, I felt so fond of her and I did feel like her dad. It’s weird how these things happen on our show. Dennis [Haysbert] felt like my dad when we were shooting Season 5, and by the end of Season 6, I felt like I was Brianna’s dad. I was really proud of her about certain things, like her singing voice, for example. I just couldn’t believe how beautiful it was and I just kept wanting to tell people how wonderful it was. And so, on the last day, we ended up doing a little impromptu outside the trailers, with my guitar, my amp, and a microphone, and I just got her to sing in front of people, like a very embarrassing dad. Thankfully, she went along with it.
I love that you get to do a duet together because it feels like there’s no way that anybody can join the show and be a part of Lucifer’s family, if you don’t end up singing with him at some point.
ELLIS: Exactly. But also, because music is so intrinsic to Lucifer. It’s a language to Lucifer. It’s something he truly understands, and for his offspring to have inherited that side of things and that love of music. When I heard Brianna sing for the first time, I couldn’t believe a beautiful her voice was. It was truly lovely.
What does it mean to Lucifer to finally get to that point where she calls him Dad?
ELLIS: It was unique, in terms of, I haven’t felt that feeling on the set of Lucifer before. That echoes what I really liked about Season 6, full stop. It was an opportunity to explore a dynamic that we hadn’t done before. We felt like we’d touched everywhere else, but Lucifer as a parent was something I’d never fathomed. One thing I can say as Tom, as a parent, was I was able to delve into those feelings and delve into what that means and how disarming that is. Like I was saying before, you just want to impress yourself upon that person and be a focal point in that person’s life. It was a territory I didn’t think we’d ever explore, but I was so glad we actually got to do it.
How do you feel about the final decision that these characters make, in regard to Amenadiel (D.B. Woodside) becoming God and Lucifer essentially becoming Hell’s therapist? What did you feel about those final decisions for those characters?
ELLIS: They felt right. I felt like the neat and tidy version of Lucifer would be to go from being the devil to being God. But actually, I’m all about the journey. The point of Lucifer using his experience on Earth and what he’d learned from all of these different things, rather than just going to a place like Heaven, he actually goes to a place that really needs it. Realizing that souls can still be saved, after they’d been damned was a huge turning point, utilizing what he’d learned to essentially go and do what his calling was and run Hell his way. I loved that notion. I also felt like Amenadiel being God just felt so appropriate. Especially since he also had worked with mankind, he also knows what it’s like to be a father. I just feel like his innate wisdom and his innate presence as an angel suggested that he would be a much stronger God than Lucifer would be.
One of the most talked-about aspects of this show has been whether Ella (Aimee Garcia) would ever find out about Lucifer, whether she should find out, and how she would react if she found out. How do you feel about her finding out and her reaction to finding out? Did you feel like that was something that had to happen, before the end of the series?
ELLIS: I didn’t ever think we’d get there. But when Season 6 was thrown in, it was like, “Well, what haven’t we done? Who still needs to find out?” I don’t think that Ella needed to find out. One of the things we’ve always loved about the Ella character, over the years, is that she has this faith, and faith is an important part of that whole equation. The not knowing and still committing and believing is the important part of that equation. So, for her to be suddenly knowledgeable that these things that she’s had her faith in do exist was a little bit like, “Do we need to be doing that?” But at the same time, Ella is not stupid. She’s a very intelligent person. She’s very brilliant at her job. So, I feel like, to lose that conceit in the final season and give her that, “What does this mean to you?,” situation was actually something that was really important and something that was a story that we hadn’t told yet.
As hard as it was to lose Dan (Kevin Alejandro) to the land of the living last season, I’m glad that we got the chance to see him again in this last season. How did you feel about that journey and having him hang around for the season, while only some of you could see him and communicate and interact with him?
ELLIS: Poor Dan. I know. When we killed Dan, we thought that there would only be one more episode of Lucifer after that, so it was a tragic ending in Season 5. So, when Season 6 came about, we were like, “But we killed Dan. What are we gonna do?” But of course, being this show, we’ve got this license to really play around with the notion of the afterlife. So, having him in purgatory, knowing that Lucifer would do anything he can to save his friend, I was personally delighted that we could still have Kevin in the show because he’s just brilliant. But also, it made quite a lot of sense for the characters. It also helped in that illustration and explanation to Lucifer that souls can be saved. When he finds out that Dan finally made it to Heaven, that’s a really big moment. And it’s a really big moment subconsciously for Lucifer realizing what his actual calling is. So, that whole Dan storyline really helped service that notion at the end, that souls can be saved still and this is how you do it. But also, it was great because Kevin ended up directing two of our episodes in the final season. Not only is Kevin an amazing performer, but he’s also turned into a fantastic director. It was great on all fronts, just to have Kevin. I would have Kevin Alejandro every day on every set, if I could.
Were there any funny moments when he was hanging out on set and only some people can see them and talk to him, just making the other characters seem crazy?
ELLIS: There were always moments of, “Can you sit down? Are you able to actually sit on a stool without falling through it?” There were all of these rules that we weren’t quite sure about, but we just committed to what felt right on the day. The one thing I would say about Kevin is that he was quite happy and everyone was a bit jealous that he got to wear exactly the same thing for the entire season.
It seems like the next natural step after doing a musical episode is to do an animated episode. Did you know that was something that Joe Henderson had always wanted to do? Had you talked before about trying to figure out how to do that?
ELLIS: Joe and I were just having a general spit-balling conversation before the season started, knowing that we had all of these COVID restrictions in place. That came out of the obstacle of COVID. It was like, “How can we cut down on our scripts? How can we cut down on our time together, physically?” And then, we talked about the fact that The Blacklist had just come out, announcing that they were doing a fully animated season. We were like, “Hold on a minute, maybe we could do an animated episode.” It started like that. And then, Joe was able to go away and think about it and really hone it into how we could actually make that work. But we were very excited when we realized that was something we could do.
What did you think of seeing yourself in animated form like that? Did it make you want to do some kind of animated series of Lucifer?
ELLIS: We’re laughing about it, but maybe there is an afterlife for Lucifer in the animated world. It was incredibly fun. When they started sending me the sketches of what Lucifer was gonna look like as a cartoon, Joe was like, “How butt-like do you want your chin to be?” My notes were always, “More butt. More butt. More butt. More butt. The more butt, the better, for the chin.” I just felt like less is not more, in this circumstance.
With this being the last season and the last chance to perform certain songs on the show, was there anything specific that you wanted to make sure to work in, before the series was done?
ELLIS: I don’t think so. Actually, “Lady is a Tramp,” which I do with Bob the Drag Queen in Episode 2, was something that, for years, I thought, “This would be really fun for Lucifer to do,” but we just never found the right moment for it to happen. And then, lo and behold, there was a scene with that in it and I was like, “Ildy, can we do this?” So, that version of “Lady is a Tramp” is something that I’d always wanted to do and wasn’t sure we’d ever get around to it. But apart from that, my bucket list of songs was pretty much ticked off when we did the musical episode last season.
I love that “Lady is a Tramp” musical number. It was just so great.
ELLIS: It was a lot of fun to do and Bob was just brilliant. I’d had this feeling about that song, and I didn’t know how it was gonna manifest itself on the show, but to do it as a duet with him, and the way that we did it and the way that he brought his humor and unique voice to that version of it, it was so much fun to be a part of. Filming for the crew was pretty arduous at times during Season 6 because of the COVID stuff. They were always in their masks and their shields, so any opportunity that we had to make them laugh or give them a thrill was great. And I remember that day, people just really enjoyed the shooting of that scene because it was something a bit different and it made everyone smile. So, job done.
With Chloe and Lucifer reunited at the end of the season, what do you think their time together looks like now? What is this new version of their partnership going to entail?
ELLIS: She’ll probably help him impart his wisdom upon the lost souls of Hell. They can create whatever they want down in Hell, so Hell isn’t Hell, as we know it, anymore. It’s just what this place is called. It doesn’t need to necessarily be hellish. They can spend their life together. And of course, their daughter is half-angel, so she’ll be there as well with them, whenever she wants to be. That makes me happy, that they get to spend eternity together.
The hardest goodbye for me was the one between Lucifer and Maze (Lesley-Ann Brandt) because there’s just so much that’s not being said between them, but obviously they clearly have an emotional bond. What was that scene like to shoot? It was just so emotionally moving.
ELLIS: I’m getting hairs standing up, hearing you talk about it. Episode 9 is probably my favorite episode of Season 6, the penultimate episode, because in that episode, there are some really genuine moments on the screen. That was my last ever scene with Lesley-Ann, so I didn’t want to think too much about it. I wanted to exist in as much truth as possible, so we hardly rehearsed it. We hardly did anything about it. I just wanted to treat it as, “I’m saying goodbye to you, and you know I’m saying goodbye, and I know you know I’m saying goodbye, but we’re not saying that.”
For me, those are the most powerful moments with actors. Watching someone who you know wants to cry, but they’re trying so hard not to is much more interesting than watching someone just gush. It’s fraught with those moments across the whole episode, but particularly with Lesley-Ann in that scene. These are two characters that don’t really like talking about their feelings very much, and so what wasn’t said in that scene really simmers under the surface, constantly. It’s really impactful. The whole episode, for me, was quite cathartic because I essentially was saying goodbye to everybody, as Tom and as Lucifer. Those moments, we tried to keep as raw and fresh on the screen as possible.
Along the lines of saying goodbye to the show and the character, you also had to leave Lucifer’s Corvette behind. I know you would’ve taken the car home with you, if you could have, but did you ever get to borrow it while you were making the show?
ELLIS: No, never. I had to fight to drive the car in the actual show, from time to time. They were like, “We’ve got stunt drivers.” And I was like, “Please, let me drive it.” So, no, unfortunately not. I do believe that car will probably be part of the Warner Bros. Studio Tour, when you go and see the famous vehicles from Warner Bros. shows. So, unfortunately not. I loved that car for so many reasons. One thing I will say about it is that it looks amazing, but it’s an absolute beast to drive. It’s like doing a workout.
Did you get to have a moment to say goodbye to the car? Did you have a final moment where you could just admire the car one last time?
ELLIS: In Episode 9, where we go out to the beach with the family, that was a big last day in the car, basically, and it felt quite appropriate. And also, we had the driving lesson with Rory. The handing over of the keys was quite symbolic, in that sense. I will miss that car. I remember seeing it on day one of shooting, or day two, whenever we were down at Hollywood Boulevard in the pilot, and that, for me, was the missing piece. I had the suit. I had everything else. I thought a lot about this character. And when this car rocked up, I was like, “Yes, I know exactly who this character is.”
Scott Porter also joins the show this season, which can’t be an easy thing to do, and he really fits in quite naturally. What did you most enjoy about what he brought and what his character brought to this season?
ELLIS: I’ve known Scott — I did my first ever pilot, actually, with Scott back in 2009, so it was lovely to have him, in that sense, and have an old mate there. But what he brought was the character of Carol was someone who wasn’t in on it. It’s always quite fun, as a dynamic on the show. We talked about Ella being the last one to find out, but there’s still a character who we introduce, who’s still clueless that all of these people actually exist in the real guise that they’re claiming. So, having someone there who has just a very human, very grounded aspect is always really important in our storytelling, and Scott brought that in abundance. He’s such a pro. He just fit right in. It was great.
What’s it been like for you to transition from doing Lucifer to doing your role in Players? Did you notice an adjustment because you are doing them somewhat close together?
ELLIS: My first couple of weeks here, when we were having fittings and rehearsals, and all of that stuff, I was plagued in my head with this notion of, “I’ve forgotten how to do this.” I hadn’t played a new character for such a long time that I was doubting my choices and the way I felt about stuff. I was worrying myself, to start with. But then, a couple of days into shooting, I was like, “Oh, yeah, this is how we do it.” It’s been really nice and it’s been a quite cathartic process, actually, to move on and play somebody else. I worried about whether I’d be able to do that, but it’s been good. I’m hoping that Nick, who I play in Players is quite different to Lucifer. Fingers crossed.
What have you enjoyed about the character and about doing something with a romantic comedy feel? Do you have favorite romantic comedies of your own?
ELLIS: Oh, yeah. Rom-com was a genre that I loved growing up. Of course, I grew up during Four Weddings and A Funeral and Notting Hill. The Richard Curtis rom-coms were very prevalent in my growing up. But my favorite rom-com, and it’s so amazing that we’re here in New York, is When Harry Met Sally. I have always loved that movie. It’s really amazing being in New York, where all of these iconic rom-coms have happened, over the years, because it is very much a character in the movie. I’m having a really nice time doing something completely different. I feel like six years of doing Lucifer and spending so much time on the set in front of cameras and all of that stuff, one thing I would say is that I feel less nervous than I used to, walking onto a set. I feel ready to play, as opposed to trying to get it right, which is quite a liberating feeling, actually.
Have you already started to think about what you want to do after Players? Do you have something lined up? Are you reading scripts and thinking about that?
ELLIS: I’m not in a rush. There’s been things that have come my way and I’ve said, “No, thank you.” It was so consuming, for six years, doing Lucifer that I’m not in a rush to go back and do a long-running TV show again. One thing that I think about a lot is that it was a real gift to play one character for six years, but one thing I always loved, as an actor, was playing different people and having that variety. And so, I’m not gonna rush to sign up to a long-running character again, but I’d love to do limited series and films and theater, and just keep playing different people. That’s what I really love about this job.
Is there a genre that you haven’t worked in yet, that you have a secret desire to do?
ELLIS: Lucifer made me fall in love with singing again. Before doing this job, I don’t think I would have ever really thought about doing a musical, for example, but that is something that I would love to do in my future, for sure. I wouldn’t have been saying that to you six years ago, so that’s probably the answer to that question. I feel like I’m ready for a musical.
Would you want to do a musical that we’re familiar with, or would you want to do an original musical?
ELLIS: I’d be open to both. For me, it’s always about the material. If I respond to the material, then I’ll want to do it. So, we shall see.
What do you think you’ll miss most about the show, the cast, and this character? What do you think will be the hardest thing, once it finally fully sinks in, to have said goodbye to?
ELLIS: Obviously, the friends that I made and the feeling that we had making the show was really special. Just in terms of, as an actor or as a job, what I’m really gonna miss is just, every day on Lucifer, I felt like I had the opportunity to do something different and to flex a different side of my skill set because it was just such a multifaceted character within a show that was action, comedy, serious dramatic beats, music, and everything. I don’t think I’m gonna have so much variety in one character again, and I’m really gonna miss that.
That’s one of the things I always loved about this show. It’s pretty much every genre in one. There’s all these things going on, and it’s very unexpected in that way. I never really knew where the next season was going to take things, and that’s fun.
ELLIS: It’s the Dick Van Dyke of TV shows, because it had a little bit of everything.
Lucifer was not like a sitcom, where you expect it to be the same every week and you know where the beats for the laughs will be. The totally unexpected nature of it was really part of its charm.
ELLIS: Oh, absolutely. I think people expected it to be exactly what you’re saying. They build that procedural element to it and it’s like, “This is the dynamic amongst our characters, this is what we solve this week, and when we come back next week, it will be a new thing to solve.” That would have been the boring version of Lucifer. But actually what we found was, “Yeah, these are the jobs that they do and each week we’ll do this,” but that was just the plot. Outside of that, we then looked at these characters' lives, what’s happened to them, and what they mean to each other. It had this constant journey and this constantly evolving narrative, and that was my favorite part of the show.
Lucifer is available to stream at Netflix.