According to a report from Deadline, in addition to the myriad of other comic book based television programming you’re about to see unleashed on your TV next week and over the next year, Sandman’s Lucifer will be getting his own program care of Tom Kapinos of Californication to air on FOX. With a pilot commitment in place, the blurb used to describe the series is interesting:
Lucifer has appeared as a supporting character in comic book series The Sandman and toplined an eponymous spinoff, both for DC’s Vertigo imprint. Based on the Vertigo characters, the TV series, written and executive produced by Kapinos, centers on Lucifer who, bored and unhappy as the Lord of Hell, resigns his throne and abandons his kingdom for the gorgeous, shimmering insanity of Los Angeles, where he opens an exclusive piano bar called Lux. Warner Bros TV is producing with Kapinos’ Aggressive Mediocrity.
I’m not going to touch the name of Kapinos’ production company because that speaks for itself. However, what I do find interesting here is that the description of the show jumps right towards where Lucifer leaves “Sandman.” His final arc in the book sees him leaving the underworld to open the piano bar, as the blurb describes, with Dream taking over the duties of running Hell temporarily — but where this becomes interesting is that DC has a Sandman film on the way as well. DC has made it known that they don’t want their television and film properties to intermingle like Marvel properties do (sorry, comic fans — no Grant Gustin or Stephen Amell in your upcoming Justice League), so where does that leave the upcoming Lucifer? And, more to the point, what does that mean for Lucifer in the film?
(We’ve actually already cast someone who would be great for Lucifer, if you’re interested in the advice of total experts on the subject.)
It’s not completely out of the realm of possibility that you can make an easily accessible iteration of “Lucifer” based on the Mike Carey spin-off comic illustrated by Peter Gross and others. I don’t doubt it. But it will be interesting to see how, if at all, they choose to incorporate the mythology that Gaiman created in “Sandman,” with which “Lucifer” consistently and frequently came back to and wove in and out of. While Lucifer and Dream never particularly interacted in “Sandman” after Lucifer left Hell, other elements of Gaiman’s seminal comic series were retained in both. Can they be evenly separated from one another?
Still, kudos to DC for throwing out television properties like candy falling from a burst piñata. Hopefully this opens the door for more obscure but alluring DC properties to make their way to television like Out on the Town with Matter-Eater-Lad and The Couture Shops of Danny the Street.
Lucifer will be joining your healthy array of DC Comics and Vertigo television programming like Arrow, Flash, Gotham, Constantine, Preacher, Titans, Supergirl and iZombie.
