Lucifer writer/executive producer Ildy Modrovich was wearing a Lou Cypher’s Disciples band T-shirt during our interview at the 2016 San Diego Comic-Con, which caused our small table of journalists to immediately all turn green with envy. Modrovich was a back-up singer in the #TeamLucifer band which took first place against stiff competition from the casts and crews of iZombie and Arrow.
“We won and they were the losers,” said Modrovich, laughing. (Seriously, how do we get one of those shirts?!)
But talking about the singing talents of the Lucifer gang wasn’t all Modrovich enthusiastically discussed in our interview. She also provided a sneak peek into what fans of the series, which will return for its second season on September 19, 2016, can expect and how the introduction of Lucifer’s mom will change things up.
Ildy Modrovich Interview:
Was it the plan all along that if you were renewed for a second season that you’d be introducing the mom?
Ildy Modrovich: “I wish that I could say, ‘Yes, that was the plan,’ but no, it was not. You know what we realized is that the thing that when I think about religion, you think about kind of squishing all religions together – the yin the yang of Buddhism and Christianity – there’s a feminine energy. There’s a female and a masculine energy and it was important to us to really explore the feminine energy and how that affects Lucifer (played by Tom Ellis), not on a romantic level but as a maternal figure for him. Since you can’t really bring God down – maybe we will, never say never – that’s why we’re like, ‘You know what? Let’s have mom come to town and see how he reacts to that.'”
How does he react to that?
Ildy Modrovich: “They just play Monopoly, just hang out. Have movie night. No, it’s really the arc of our season. There’s going to be many, many, many levels. The thing is, we get to see Lucifer now have parental acceptance and love in person. He’s never experienced that. You’ve never seen him, except for Chloe, be truly kind of accepted and loved. And how he reacts to that is interesting because it will make him uncomfortable, for one. But also Tom plays this great vulnerability and you just want to love him. He’s this rogue, this bad boy, but you want to hug him. So it’s very cathartic and satisfying to watch somebody love him unconditionally, which is what mothers do.”
When you dropped the bombshell at the end of season one that mother was coming, did you already have an actress in mind?
Ildy Modrovich: “You know what’s funny? Yes. Yes, we did. When Joe (Henderson) and I first started talking about it, she was our archetype. Tricia (Helfer) was our archetype. ‘Well, if we could get Tricia Helfer, that would be great,’ and then we kind of went off and went on 900 different tangents. We came back to who we kind of designed the character around. We are just so lucky because Tricia…I can’t even. She nails it.
The very first day she was on set I called Joe. You have to technically only have two episodes before you pick somebody up for the season and after the first scene she dropped the fricking mic. She killed it. She has such complexity. She’s funny. She’s compassionate. She’s formidable. She can scare the heck out of you. She’s just, unfortunately, not good looking. (Laughing) She’s phenomenal.”
And the dynamic between Lucifer and Amenadiel (played by D.B. Woodside) is going to be more of a friendship maybe? What’s it going to be like?
Ildy Modrovich: “Well, that’s the other thing. Speaking kind of segueing from mom into the whole family dynamic, mom – again – it was important to us not to make her this arch kind of character because she’s our feminine representative. We wanted her to have complex, real motives that moved her. And the same with the relationship, her needs are going to conflict with Lucifer’s at some point and Amenadiel will sort of more side with mom’s needs and goals and desires. So we’ll have Lucifer and Amenadiel kind of start off the season side-by-side and then possibly come together, go apart, come together, go apart, as families do.”
Are Lucifer and Amenadiel going to need more therapy?
Ildy Modrovich: “I hope so. I hope they do. Don’t we all need therapy? I know I do.”
And circling back to music, Tom Ellis will be singing again this coming season?
Ildy Modrovich: “Yes! He’s singing in the first episode. I think I can say that.”
How many episodes is season two?
Ildy Modrovich: “Right now it’s 13. We’re definitely getting a back order, we just don’t know how many. It’s five or nine so it’s either going to be 18 or 22 episodes this season.”
Does that change how you approach it if you’re not sure how many episodes you’ll have in season two?
Ildy Modrovich: “Oh, it’s a bear. It’s full bananas, if you will. Yeah. We really want to know how many episodes there are! Right now we’re building to episode 10 because that’s the holiday break. And then we’re sort of a little vague after that. We think it’s going to be 18 so we have that arc, so we’ll just have to plop on a bigger, better four episodes if we get that. But it’s not pleasant to not know.”
Watch the full Ildy Modrovich interview:
