‘Lucifer’ Showrunners Discuss the Upcoming Musical Episode at DC FanDome

DC FanDome’s Lucifer panel began with a special sneak peek of the “Another One Bites the Dust” number from the upcoming season five (part two) musical episode. The musical number kicks off with Ella (Aimee Garcia) declaring “another one bites the dust” while standing over the dead body of a referee on a football field. With cheerleaders as backup dancers, Ella belts out the first lines while a stunned Lucifer (Tom Ellis) looks completely confused about the music video he’s stumbled into. Dan (Kevin Alejandro) also gets into the Queen number, with the football team behind him grunting along. Chloe (Lauren German) and Lucifer finally join in, and even the dead ref momentarily comes back to life to show off his dancing moves.

Lucifans have been jonesing for a full musical episode and, finally, they’ll get what they’ve been begging for in the second half of season five. Showrunner Ildy Modrovich explained the idea for a musical episode blossomed after the Vegas episode when Tom and Aimee performed “Luck Be a Lady.” “I remember coming into rehearsal for that and crying because it was such a dream come true. It was so exciting to me,” said Modrovich during the DC FanDome panel. “And if there’s any show that you could actually do a musical on, it’s this one.”

“It was my personal mission to do a musical episode without actually having to do it because it’s really hard and exhausting. So, I loved that Ildy wanted to do it and I could be part of it but not actually have to do all the hard work,” joked showrunner Joe Henderson.

Henderson discussed the logistics of finding a spot for a musical episode contextually within season five. “Part of the challenge was we were always trying to find a reason. Part of it is it’s like, to me, in these musical episodes you’ve got to have the story-based reason that everyone breaks into song. And our show has people break into song all the time but it’s because they’re at Lux or because of reasons like that. So, one of the challenges is what element can we produce that is organic to our story that allows all of our cast to burst into song? And when we found that – which I’m not going to say what it is – […]that’s when it came together,” explained Henderson.

Director Sherwin Shilati, host of the Lucifer panel, actually directed the musical episode and said he can’t wait for fans to see it. Asked what was the most challenging scene to shoot, Shilati replied, “I would have to say the finale of the episode is one that I…obviously I put a lot of thought into everything, but I wanted that one to have a special quality, a standalone quality, but not for the reasons the audience might think. I’m pretty confident that we built the momentum up to get to that point in the episode.”

Although Shilati didn’t share any spoilers, Henderson revealed the finale is a “beautiful duet.”

Modrovich said the actors were asked at the start of the season what they would feel comfortable taking on in a musical episode – dancing, singing, or both? “Pretty much everybody was like, ‘Oh, I want to do all of it!” recalled Modrovich.

Tom Ellis had a special suit for the musical episode which allowed him to move easier during the dance scenes. “I believe it’s called wefting,” said Modrovich, laughing. “And, yes, he does indeed have a special suit. It has elastic in the armpits and in the crotch area, so that you may kick and raise your arms without splitting. But I believe he split the crotch anyway.”

Discussing the series’ renewal for season six, Henderson dubbed Lucifer the most canceled/uncancelled show that’s ever existed. “You can’t keep a good Devil down,” said Henderson. “It’s a mixture of emotional whiplash and also joy and gratitude. We had a chance to end the series season five because we were told it was ending, and then we were given the option to decide whether or not we had more story to tell. At first, we were like, ‘No, this is it. We’re ready to go,’ and it was very much in our court. And Idly and I and the room talked about it a bunch and we’re like, ‘Well….’”

“We’ve got one more story to tell,” added Modrovich. “One more.”

Henderson revealed they’re two weeks into writing the new season and now he can’t imagine not telling the season six story.

The first eight episodes of season five are currently available for streaming on Netflix, along with seasons one through four. Netflix hasn’t announced when the second half of season five will premiere.