Why Lucifer Made That Good Guy Go Bad On Netflix

Lucifer and Dan not getting along on Netflix

Lucifer, when it was airing both on Fox and Netflix, has always been a show where you root for the "bad" guy. However, there are varying levels of bad, and our buddy Luci and his pals on the force are constantly exploring both their good and bad instincts. Heading into Season 5, there could be more struggle for Tom Ellis' Lucifer and Kevin Alejandro’s Dan as well.

Speaking ahead of the upcoming final season of Lucifer on Netflix, showrunner Ildy Modrovich revealed a little bit more about what’s heading the fanbase’s way, and why Kevin Alejandro went back to “Dark Dan" during Season 4.

We wanted to go Dark Dan [to let] him struggle with the same things Lucifer is struggling with: 'Am I good guy or am I a bad guy? Maybe I'm a bad guy.'

Early in the series, Detective Chloe Decker’s ex Detective Dan Espinoza had some dirty tendencies as a man of the law, and he was often present on the show basically to verbally spar with Tom Ellis’ Lucifer character. Over time, like Lucifer, his arc was one of a better person, but in some ways he is similar to Luci in that he has deep and dark feelings that manifest themselves in bad behavior sometimes.

Now, due to what happened at the end of Season 3 with Charlotte, we saw Dan struggling with who he was as a person on the dram. We’d known this was coming given the Season 4 events where he admitted he blamed Lucifer, but in the finale had a conversation with Ella about letting go of all the anger he had built up since Season 3.

In the interview with TV Insider, Ildy Modrovich and fellow showrunner Joe Henderson also talked about Lucifer dealing with stuff during the upcoming final season of the Netflix show given he headed back to Hell in the last episode we saw to contain the demons. Like “Dark Dan,” Lucifer may be picking up some of his old habits and here’s what Henderson revealed about that:

You send an alcoholic to a liquor store and tell them to run it for 20 years? Who knows what [will] happen!

Luckily, there will be one character who will most certainly not be exploring her bad side: Ella. After struggling a bit with her faith, Henderson also said Ella will be the “beacon of never-ending hope” propelling Lucifer into Season 5.

Related: Which Big Bad Kevin Alejandro Would Like To See Return For Lucifer Season 5

There’s a lot that Lucifer needs to wrap before the show finally calls it quits, and the show is getting 16 episodes during the final season to wrap up the story in a satisfactory way for fans.

In fact, while Lucifer has been the little series that could since it initially wrapped, scratch that got cancelled on Fox, the showrunners have been clear the upcoming season will be the end. It’s being planned as the end and Season 5 is what all parties involved agreed would be the end. So, if you are unhappy about the show actually ending after the upcoming season, you should definitely take a look at why Ildy Modrovich’s full statement on the matter.

Or, if you’ve done that already, just hang out and enjoy some other TV for a while, knowing full well that Lucifer Season 5 is officially on the way.

Jessica Rawden
Managing Editor

Jessica Rawden is Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. She’s been kicking out news stories since 2007 and joined the full-time staff in 2014. She oversees news content, hiring and training for the site, and her areas of expertise include theme parks, rom-coms, Hallmark (particularly Christmas movie season), reality TV, celebrity interviews and primetime. She loves a good animated movie. Jessica has a Masters in Library Science degree from Indiana University, and used to be found behind a reference desk most definitely not shushing people. She now uses those skills in researching and tracking down information in very different ways.