One of the biggest and most talked-about cancellations of the 2017-2018 TV season was undoubtedly Lucifer, which got the axe from Fox after three seasons. Fans were not ready to say goodbye to the series, especially after the finale ended on a cliffhanger that begged to be resolved. Now, we have good news. The hopes, wishes, prayers, and tweets of fans have been answered, and Lucifer has been revived for a fourth season on Netflix.
Given that Lucifer was cancelled by Fox way back on May 11 and more than a month passed without confirmation of another network or platform rescuing the series a la Brooklyn Nine-Nine, it was beginning to feel like Lucifer was really done for good. Sure, the cast hadn't given up hope that the show could still find a home elsewhere than Fox, and there were rumblings of a certain streaming service stepping in with the rescue, but no deals materialized... until now.
The massive fan campaign that has had #SaveLucifer tweets being posted en masse for weeks seems to have resulted in a renewal for the series. No episode count or premiere date has yet been announced, but fans can still rejoice that those final two standalone episodes weren't the very end of the series. Pat yourselves on the back, social media-savvy fans!
Interestingly, Netflix was not deemed the most likely home for a potential revival earlier this week. Conversations about renewing Lucifer were happening at Amazon, according to Amazon Studios boss Jennifer Salke. Those talks were apparently still ongoing as recently as June 7, so fans may be truly shocked that Netflix is the platform to give the pickup for the fourth season.
There's also the point that Netflix didn't have the streaming video on demand (SVOD) rights to Lucifer. Those rights were held by Hulu, and THR reports that the deal had to be reworked. It's a somewhat similar situation to when Amazon decided to rescue The Expanse after it was cancelled by Syfy; at the time, the SVOD rights for the first three seasons belonged to Netflix.
The Netflix renewal means that fans will presumably get to see closure on the killer cliffhanger that ended the third season. The cliffhanger was intended to stave off a cancellation, but that obviously didn't work, as Lucifer was cancelled days before the finale even hit the airwaves. The cancellation was based off of underperformance in ratings, according to Fox. Ratings mean something different to streaming services than broadcast networks; perhaps Lucifer could have a long life on Netflix.
No details are currently available about which members of the cast and creative team will make the move to Netflix, but the odds are that most of them will be happy to come back on the streaming service. Star Tom Ellis and the rest of the cast have been vocal on social media, and Kevin Alejandro weighed in on what the fan reaction has meant.
It may be a while before Lucifer makes its way to Netflix, but there are still plenty of viewing options, and you can find them on our 2018 Netflix premiere guide.
