My last roundtable of San Diego Comic Con was for ‘Lucifer,‘ a show which is really hitting its stride as it heads into its third season. We were lucky that a good number of cast members came to the event and stuck around late, allowing us to interview everyone that was there. The roundtable came after the big panel for ‘Lucifer,’ so we had a lot of questions about the big reveals of the panel, especially the news of Tom Welling joining the cast, which was very exciting for all of us who were fans of ‘Smallville.’ Again, we got to interview everybody, so I am going to do my best to just talk about the highlights of what was spoken about with each actor.
First up we spoke to Aimee Garcia, who told us that she loves that she is basically the “avatar of the fans” on the show, as well as the opportunity she has to “represent women of science and faith and not be defined by a relationship.” Of her character she said specifically that she enjoys that Ella is “clear in her faith, but not preachy… I see her almost an angel.” She also really enjoys that they write Ella as funny, which is very similar to her, even sharing a story of a take where she accidentally walked into a door, and the director knew that was the take to use, because it was perfect for the character. For the new season, she looks forward to Ella actually talking with Lucifer, as she found it funny that “they went a whole season without having a religious character have a conversation with a [fallen] angel.” She explained that in Season 3 Ella and Lucifer would be taking a road trip to Vegas, and that Ella might go a little wild in Vegas, as “Ella and Vegas, no bueno.”
Next up we spoke to executive producers Ildy Modrovich and Joe Henderson, who immediately spoke on Tom Welling joining the cast, saying his character is an “antagonist, a hero in his own story… Takes stable world [of the show] and starts busting it up.” They also spoke on the theme of the upcoming season, saying the ‘Theme is identity, am I the devil or am I am an angel,” elaborating further by explaining that Lucifer is the type of character who likes to make his own decisions on who he is, “don’t tell me what to do, don’t tell me who I am.” When asked about the religious backlash to the show, Ildy commented that “weirdly, a lot of people with faith watch our show,” explaining that to her, “if the darkest villain can find redemption, that’s religion.”
Rachel Harris spoke with our table next, and we had a lot of questions about where her character goes now that she knows Lucifer’s secret.
“She’s in a bit of denial… biggest issue is that she really knows nothing, but she thought she knew everything.”
She went on to hint about some of Linda’s storylines for the season, saying “Aspects of her life come back to haunt her and that professional veneer starts to crack… We’re gonna get to know Linda a little bit… an unlikely person starts helping her.” She went on to talk about how Linda will be dealing with Charlotte being human again, and trying to separate the goddess who tried to kill her from this regular woman. As was a recurring theme with many of the cast members, she also said she was really looking forward to working with Tom Welling.
And then Lucifer himself sat down at our table, Tom Ellis, and boy did we have a lot of questions for him. He spoke a lot about his goals this season, and the themes, which play into the cliffhanger from last season where he found himself in the desert with his wings back. According to Tom:
“[My] main mission is to find out who’s behind it [wings]… Theme this year is about identity, about his Father’s perception of him… might get some extra devilish behavior.”
When asked about whether he thought we would ever actually see his Father on the show, especially after the tease when we thought we met Lucifer’s dad, Tom said “Never say never on whether we’ll meet dad.” When asked about the future of him and Chloe on the show, especially with Tom Welling showing up and being a potential romantic interest for her, Tom said “Lucifer does have a lot of respect for the Detective [Chloe], who is now speaking a lot with the Lieutenant [Tom Welling’s character.]” We discussed how Chloe would react if she learned his secret, and Tom shared his thoughts:
“I don’t know to be honest… She could be very understanding of it. I always thought of them like Beauty and the Beast, only opposite, as Lucifer turns into the beast.”
Lastly we discussed Tom’s singing on the series, which he told us was a kind of “happy accident.” Apparently he went to karaoke one night with the writers and Tom sang ‘Mustang Sally.’ Following that the writers really wanted to use his singing in the show.
Kevin Alejandro joined us next, speaking on his character’s closer “connection with Lucifer because Chloe’s eye has been caught by someone else,” which could bond them in the coming season. When asked if a friendship was forming, Kevin said “As far as being ‘buddies’… I don’t know.” We asked how his character would react if he found out Lucifer’s secret, and all Kevin could say was that “it would blow his mind.” In regards to his relationship with the newly human Charlotte, he said his character at this point was just “confused.” But as for his arc this coming season, he stated that:
“Gonna fight hard…gonna stand up for himself…. make people understand that he deserves to be where he’s at and that he’s a good cop.”
Our final interview was with Tricia Helfer, who did an amazing job last season as the goddess, and has a lot of adjustments to make this year as she is now playing Charlotte as a regular human, lamenting that the last thing Charlotte remembers is being attacked. We asked whether Charlotte will learn about what happened to her last season when she was the goddess, and Tricia said:
“Will she find out? I don’t know. I’m not in the first part of the season, really hammering home the point that mom is gone.”
When asked about what Charlotte would remember from last season, Tricia was understandably vague, but did mention an important point was where Charlotte went after she died, “she might have gone one way or the other,” saying that some memories of where she was, either in the afterlife or as the goddess could play a role in her identity themes for the season. “Maybe snippets of where she was could propel her forward.” When asked about how she would be playing Charlotte this season since she is no longer the goddess, Tricia said there were a lot of choices to be made because they are two different characters:
“Mom had a disdain for humans, a way she would speak to humans… Charlotte won’t have that.”
However, there were some aspects of Charlotte’s that she had already worked out, and bits of the goddess she was going to hold on to, saying:
“[Charlotte is a] much more high powered attorney…a little condescending… don’t want to lose all of mom’s sass.”
It was a whirlwind hour and a half, and while I wish I had more time to speak to each of cast members and producers, it was still very interesting to hear their plans for the third season, and see their excitement for what is to come, especially since ‘Lucifer’ seems to be in the midst of a creative stride. With Tom Welling joining the cast they are sure to get a lot of mileage from the plot complications his character will introduce, and the theme of identity and Lucifer walking a darker line suggests this upcoming season has all the right ingredients for a season that could surpass both seasons that came before.
