‘Lucifer’ Season 2 – Kevin Alejandro Interview on Dan, Improv, and the Upcoming Season Finale

Lucifer season 2 episode 11
Kevin Alejandro and Tom Ellis in the “Stewardess Interruptus” episode of ‘Lucifer’ (Photo by Michael Courtney © 2017 Fox Broadcasting Co)
During our interview at the 2017 WonderCon in Anaheim, Lucifer‘s Kevin Alejandro said he hopes his character, Dan Espinoza, sticks with the Detective Douche nickname. Laughing, Alejandro explained, “I kind of like it now. I think that’s given the audience something to grab onto. Don’t take it away if it’s not broken, right?”

Kevin Alejandro joined his co-stars Lesley-Ann Brandt and Rachael Harris as well as executive producers Joe Henderson and Ildy Modrovich at the convention to discuss all things Lucifer and provide a look ahead at the final episodes of season two. Lucifer is set to return from a three month break with season two episode 14 airing on May 1, 2017.

Will we see more of Dan and Lucifer teaming up in the upcoming episodes? How’s that dynamic to play with Tom Ellis?

Kevin Alejandro: “Yeah, definitely. You’ll definitely see that. You know what? It’s fantastic because I think when they wrote a scene where Dan has finally had enough of it, he’s like, ‘Dude, I’m not Detective Douche. I’m Daniel Espinoza, all right?’ he steps up to him and that opened up a whole new world of Dan stepping up to Lucifer. Now there’s all this really funny banter back and forth that they put into the show and that we also improv back and forth. I think people are really going to enjoy that sort of aspect now. Instead of him being more of a doormat, always used to taking the jab, he’s like, ‘F*ck you, dude!’”


Where would you like to see your character go?

Kevin Alejandro: “I think one of the coolest things would be is if you know how he always makes these decisions for good reasons but it always ends up being sort of shady, like shooting a person, I would like something big to happen where he has to make another choice and it just pulls the rug out from under everything and turns him evil and dark. He turns into the ultimate force villain to reckon with. That would be a really awesome thing.”

Will there be any repercussions for Dan when God arrives?

Kevin Alejandro: “You know, Dan’s in the dark about this whole celestial world so he’s kind of like the dumb guy. He’s like, ‘Hey, what we got? What’s going on?’ He definitely has encounters with him but he still doesn’t know this world that is Lucifer.”

Do you like that Dan doesn’t know?

Kevin Alejandro: “Absolutely. I think eventually I kind of want to know but right now it’s really good to not know because it gives this guy a lot of just strange… Like, he’s constantly calling (Lucifer) weird because he says weird things. I think it’s really funny that he doesn’t know.”

Especially since he’s a detective. You’d think he’d figure it out.

Kevin Alejandro: “Exactly. He’s so logical, right? It would just turn his world upside down.”

Will we explore more about Chloe and Dan’s relationship and why they split up?

Kevin Alejandro: “Yeah, definitely. They’re peppering a bunch of different things. Like right now we’re in a whirlwind of trying to finish season two but also pepper in storylines and details that make you want to come back for season three. That’s definitely something that they’re (doing). The good thing about getting season three is that it gives us time to breathe and deal with them on a slower, more evolutionary sort of level. Let it sort of breathe itself out as opposed to rushing through it. So, yes. The answer to your question is yes. You’re going to figure that out.”

Joe Henderson was saying they’re going to have episodes that concentrate on specific characters. Is there a Dan episode?

Kevin Alejandro: “There is. There is a Dan episode. It’s not just me, but I’m pretty heavy in it. You get to figure out a little bit more of how he ticks, why he ticks, why he is the way he is. Why he’s so straight-laced. So, yeah, definitely. I think it’s really awesome that they’re able to do that and give everybody a chance to be their own person and let you guys decide whether you like them or dislike them.”

Who would you like to have more scenes with?

Kevin Alejandro: “I don’t know. I love, love, love working with Tom and Lauren (German). I just did a really great scene the other night with Rachael (Harris) and that woman is amazing. You cannot sit there and look her in the eye without laughing because she’s so funny. She’s so great and honest with it. I would like to see that relationship evolve. We are going to see the worlds… Like I said, they’re peppering things in and I do get some moments with Amenadiel this season. They’re brief but they’re very meaningful. You see why those two guys could potentially have a good friendship or how they would relate to each other. They’re doing a really good job of balancing us all out. But also doing an amazing job of not letting us know what we’re going to be doing next season.”

You mentioned improv with Tom Ellis. Do you have a lot of room to change what Dan says now that you know the character so well?

Kevin Alejandro: “You know what? We do what they write because they’re really good at it. You don’t have to change anything because it’s so good. We lay it all down and the directors and everyone are really good about giving us one take just to do whatever we want to. And sometimes it makes it into the show and sometimes it doesn’t. But we know these guys so well, we can ham them up. Usually we ham them up and they’re like, ‘Too much!’

Lauren and I have this love/hate relationship where we like to kind of mess with each other, be mean to each other but in a loving way. And we do that with our characters as well, and that stuff never makes it into the show. You’ll see us whispering or bickering in the background but we’re really talking about, ‘I can’t believe your hair looks that way! It looks terrible. Are you sure they put makeup on you?’”

Is there anything you can tease about the season two finale?

Kevin Alejandro: “Your socks will be blown off. It’s amazing. You enter into a world that you don’t expect.”

If Detective Dan were to die right now, would he go to Heaven or Hell?

“If he were to die now? He’d go to Heaven. He really is a kind person. Everything comes from his heart. He genuinely loves his family and he rationalizes whatever decisions that he makes out of love. I think he’d go to Heaven, even though he killed a dude.”

Watch the full interview with Kevin Alejandro on Lucifer season 2: