Back in May, Netflix answered the entertainment prayers of millions of fans when the streaming giant premiered the highly anticipated fourth season of the Tom Ellis-starring Lucifer, which had been cancelled by Fox almost exactly a year earlier. Unfortunately, it was only a short while later when Netflix announced Lucifer would be renewed for a fifth and final season.
Diehard fans generally aren't into that whole "accepting fate" thing, especially for a show that had already survived a cancellation. Lucifer's fanbase quickly went to work decrying the final season news, and the attempt was made to create a different future for the supernatural drama in the form of petition calling for Season 6 to get renewed elsewhere. Though she initially maintained her silence on the matter, showrunner Ildy Modrovich addressed the fan-based efforts on social media.
Sorry I’ve been quiet on this issue. Truth is, it’s cuz I’m torn. So much of me could do #Lucifer forever. But I’m also immensely grateful YOU & @netflix gave us the chance to continue our story together. And I know S5 is going to be a love letter to our #Lucifans so...
It's a rather complicated and multi-faceted matter to address from any one particular angle. For one, Netflix's combination renewal and cancellation offered up both positive and negative feelings that didn't properly cancel each other out, so fans were in the awkward position of mourning a series that still has more episodes to deliver in the future.
On the flip side of that, showrunner Ildy Modrovich is in the midst of creatively conceiving all the ins and outs for Season 5 on Netflix, and is then having to respond to fans seeking comments about a post-Netflix future. It's like being asked to bite the hand that feeds between meals, and it might have looked like a no-win situation in the minds of many.
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However, Ildy Modrovich offered up an answer that was both honest and grounded, and it undercut neither fans' expectations nor her commitment to the streaming company. She can admit to possibly always wanting to keep bringing Lucifer stories to television audiences of any capacity, but then also can't take for granted the rather incredible opportunity that Lucifer's cast and crew were given whenever Netflix rescued them in the first place.
You can check out Modrovich's tweet below.
At the time of this writing, the Lucifer Change.org petition is sitting at over 45,000 signatures, with the goal of 50,000 easily within reach. But just because there may be 50,000+ people who want Lucifer Season 6 enough to sign a thing online in five seconds, that doesn't provide the resources necessary to produce a new season of episodes on a completely different network or platform.
That said, the more people who sign the Lucifer petition, the bigger the fanbase's collective voice sounds to any network heads out there who are looking for a property with a built-in audience. Or, if nothing else, the massive support for the drama might even cause some revisionist thinking within Netflix itself as far as making the end date final goes.
According to recent stats that are technically unofficial, since they don't come from Netflix's own numbers, Lucifer has been one of the service's most heavily binged series in the weeks since Season 4 was released. That report made Netflix's decision to pull the plug all the more strange and hard to understand. Of course, perhaps it was only popular with a certain kind of audience and didn't excel with the other audience factors that execs seek for the original series.
For now, Lucifer's first four seasons are available to stream in full on Netflix – even the two non-canonical add-on eps from Season 3 – with Season 5 set to debut in 2020.
