Let's Talk About that potential 6th season of Lucifer

Six is the number of the devil...

Update June 23rd, 2020
It's official folks, Lucifer season 6 is happening! Going to be fun seeing how much of what I wrote here ends up being true or false. With that out of the way, enjoy reading!

So rumour has it that Lucifer, currently streaming on Netflix, will not end after its upcoming 5th season as had been previously announced but that it has been uncancelled and a 6th season is in the cards. Abruptly cancelled by Fox in 2018 after 3 seasons, Lucifer got eventually picked up by Netflix after a strong fan campaign on social media. The contract the creators signed with Netflix at the time was for 2 more seasons of 10 episodes and that these would be used to bring the series to a natural conclusion. These plans have since changed, however.

After the 5th and final season was already announced, Netflix confirmed in late 2019 that it had extended the seasons run from 10 to 16 episodes which were going to be split into two parts to be dropped somewhere in 2020. At the beginning of this year, the rumours of Netflix considering to rewind its decision to end Lucifer after 5 seasons started to rear its head. There was a high chance of this rumour being false, rumours are rumours after all, but in the last couple of months, evidence has come to light that points towards Lucifer really getting some sort of continuation.

Most prominently, multiple people from the cast and crew of the show including its writers and Lucifer himself Tom Ellis have al signed a renewal contract with the streaming giant. Though the details of these contracts are still being kept under wraps it seems highly unlikely that they wouldn't have to do with Lucifer, but if there really is going to be more content to look forward to what form will it take? I believe that there are four ways in which more Lucifer could come to Netflix after season 5. In short; they could continue the series, make a prequel series, make a movie or what I like to call an anthology season.

Option 1: a continuation of the story

What at the time of this writing seems to be the most likely option is a continuation of the series in a 6th season. But what form this season might take is less certain. The specifics of season 5 have been kept under wraps pretty nicely, but what we do know about it is that the creators were aiming for the show that gets rater definitive ending. This could mean that there might not even really be a logical, or at least satisfying way, to continue the series after this ending and whatever comes next might be more of a sequel to the Lucifer that we know now rather than a direct continuation. There are a few ways the show could get around this, however. Production on the 5th season has been stalled due to the Corona-virus outbreak and the final episode has yet to finish filming. They could use the time they've had to wait to finish it to rewrite the episode and do some pickup shooting to change the ending of the season to allow a continuation to better fit the narrative.

Option 2: a prequel season

They could also choose to go the opposite route and set the new season up as prequel. Within the narrative of the show, Lucifer spent 5 years on earth before he met Detective Decker in the pilot episode. The show has already done an episode set within this time frame and they could do so again, showing how Lucifer got his nightclub. People have even suggested it could co-star Matt Ryan as John Constantine another DC character with ties to the comic version of Lucifer the series is based on. Lucifer had a cameo during the CW's Crisis of Infinite Earths crossover were they alluded to him and Constantine having a history together, something concerning Maze. The season could potentially revolve around this incident, Matt Ryan has said he'd been up for it. But I still think that a prequel would be unlikely, mainly because of one reason.

If the season would take place before Lucifer and Chloe met, this would mean that most of the cast wouldn't return as it doesn't make sense to feature these characters. In the flashback episode the show did, they circumvented this issue by making Lucifer and Chloe investigate the same case but they never interact with each other. This works for one episode, but not for an entire season. And when it comes to featuring Constantine, making a crossover happen for a small cameo is one thing but for an entire season another. I don't pretend to know everything when it comes to contracts and such, but a deal would need to be struck between Netflix and the CW and Matt Ryan would also need to be available for filming. So all in all, I think a prequel season seems very unlikely to me.

Option 3: an anthology season

The third option would be what I like to call an anthology season. Let me first explain what I mean by this. Over the course of the show, Lucifer has had episodes that don't follow the shows usual format an example of this is the final episode of season 3 in which we're given a look where Chloe's father never died and how this change affected each character. What they could potentially do is set the new season in the same universe as this episode. It could be interesting to see how the lives of these different versions of Lucifer and Chloe would have been like. From a production standpoint, you wouldn't have to say goodbye to over half of the cast or worry about any continuity as the season would be in its own little bubble.

Option 4: a Movie

Lastly, they could always go to a movie. They could end the series as the originally intended to, but still, have a little bit of a continuation with a movie. The best way for a movie to work, in my opinion, would make the story of the movie relatively stand-alone. To give it its own story so it can be followed even by people who have never seen the show, while still making it a continuation of the show. It could serve as an extra-large, bottle instalment of the show and could give the show a different kind of send-off.

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So will there be more Lucifer after season 5? It's hard to tell, but if there is going to be more I'd say it's a safe bet that whatever form a continuation would take I have the feeling that it would be just as extraordinary and surprising as the show itself.