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TV Media Weekly | April 29 - May 5, 2017 By Kyla Brewer TV Media T he devil is in the details, or so the saying goes. When the details include red-hot stars and millions of viewers, the devil has a hit on his hands. Prime time heats up once again as Tom Ellis ("Rush") returns as the devil himself, Lu - cifer Morningstar, who's given up his post in hell to run a posh nightclub in L.A. in the midsea- son premiere of "Lucifer," airing Monday, May 1, on Fox. Inspired by a character from Neil Gaiman's comic book series "The Sandman" and its spinoff "Lucifer," the fantasy drama fol- lows Lucifer as he works with LAPD detective Chloe Decker (Lauren German, "Chicago Fire"), who intrigues Lucifer be - cause she's inexplicably imper- vious to his powers and some- how renders him vulnerable to physical harm. The new episode serves as the continuation of the second season, which was given a full- season pickup, fittingly, on Hal- loween. Fox executive David Madden had high praise for the series when the renewal was announced. "'Lucifer' continues to deliver, with great blasts of dark humor and ambitious sto- rytelling," he said. "The show has turned out to be a true wick- ed pleasure." The series has been on hiatus since January, and it's clear the first half of season 2 struck a chord with viewers and critics. As of press time, the second sea- son has earned a 100 percent approval rating on popular re- view aggregator site Rotten To- matoes, and its success so far prompted an early 22-episode season 3 order from Fox in Feb- ruary. Shortly after that an- nouncement, it was revealed that season 2 would consist of 18 episodes, and four stand- alone episodes would be shifted to season 3. In early April, some of the cast and executive producers ap- peared at WonderCon in Ana- heim, where they explained the move. "We were worried that we were going to have to sort of pad our arc that we had so care- fully, lovingly constructed, but they actually said instead, let's do four stand-alone episodes that can go anywhere," ex- plained executive producer Ildy Modrovich. A super-sized season 3 is good news for fans, who seem particularly smitten with lead- ing man Ellis. The actor was nominated for a 2016 Teen Choice Award for Breakout Star for his role in the Fox series, but "Lucifer" is hardly his first sub- stantial role. Ellis cut his teeth as Dr. Oliver Cousins in the iconic BBC One soap opera "East- Enders" and as Gary Preston in the British comedy "Miranda" before endearing himself to American audiences in USA Net- work's "Rush" in 2014. Co-star German began her Hollywood career in such ro- mances as "Down to You" (2000) and "A Walk to Remem- ber" (2002), but also has scream queen cred thanks to roles in "The Texas Chainsaw Massa- cre" (2003) and "Hostel: Part II" (2007). As for her television work, she starred as DHS agent Lori Weston in the second sea- son of CBS's "Hawaii Five-0," and appeared as paramedic Les- lie Shay in the first two seasons of NBC's "Chicago Fire." The rest of the cast includes a mix of beautiful Hollywood up- and-comers and established TV actors. Lucifer's bestie is a de- mon named Mazikeen, or Maze for short, played by Lesley-Ann Brandt ("Spartacus: Blood and Sand"). Fox alum D.B. Woodside ("24") portrays Lucifer's broth- er, Amenadiel, a dark-winged angel sent to Earth to try to con- vince his sibling to return to hell, and Lucifer's inner circle also in- cludes his Earthly therapist Dr. Linda Martin, portrayed by Ra- chael Harris ("Diary of a Wimpy Kid," 2010). Near the beginning of season 2, Tricia Helfer ("Bat- tlestar Galactica") joined the cast as Lucifer's mother, who es- caped from her prison in hell and took over the body of a re- cently murdered lawyer. Chloe's allies include her es- tranged husband Det. Dan Espi- noza (Kevin Alejandro, "Ar- row"), who was demoted for his involvement in police corrup- tion. Child actress Scarlett Este- vez ("Daddy's Home," 2015) plays Chloe and Dan's daughter, Trixie, who befriends Lucifer. Aimee Garcia ("Dexter") joined the season 2 cast as Chloe's LAPD colleague Ella Lopez. In other season 2 casting news, Michael Imperioli ("The Sopranos") signed on as Uriel, Lucifer and Amendiel's other brother. While it appeared Luci- fer had finished off Uriel in the first part of the season, Imperio- li's appearance in the midsea- son finale has fans wondering if they'll see more of him. New cast members aren't the only things changing for "Luci- fer." After filming the first two seasons in Vancouver, B.C., the show will move to Los Angeles. While the move is undoubtedly a loss for the Vancouver enter- tainment industry, it makes sense for the show, which is, of course, set in L.A. The move was prompted by new state tax cred- its that make filming stateside more appealing. It appears millions of TV view- ers find "Lucifer"intriguing. Ac- cording to Fox, the show aver- ages eight million multi-plat- form viewers, so it looks as if the show may be around for a while yet. Find out what happens in the midseason premiere of "Lu- cifer," airing Monday, May 1, on Fox. Scarlett Estevez as seen in "Lucifer" 'Lucifer' with Tom Ellis returns from hiatus 2 | Cover story A/Grindstone Charlie's B/Norris Insurance 1 x 4" 455-2700 3833 S. LaFountain • Kokomo, IN 46902 www.norrisinsurance.com • Home • Auto • Business • Life Call for a FREE Quote! Serving You For Over 50 Years Bill Neher

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