When we first heard that the Lucifer TV series would be an LAPD crime procedural written by the creator of Californication, we weren’t enormously enthused. Far too many comic book shows try to follow the structures of crime TV storytelling, and it doesn’t always work.
Now that the first trailer for Lucifer is here, you can judge for yourself.
The adaptation looks pretty different from the quasi-religious fantasy of the Lucifer comics published by DC, which had more in common with Sandman than your average supernatural cop show. But the change isn’t necessarily a bad thing. This trailer looks fun—in a guilty-pleasure kind of way—and it could prove more entertaining than Constantine, which focused on copying superficial aspects of Hellblazer without really understanding what made the comics tick.
Basically, Fox’s Lucifer follows a tried-and-true formula: a wish-fulfillment fantasy about a suave, morally ambiguous rich guy who doesn’t have to play by the rules. Our eponymous antihero is immortal and supernaturally seductive, and he can magically force people to tell the truth. Inevitably, his personal journey kicks off with the death of a beautiful woman. Decades of television prove that this kind of story always finds an audience.
Fans of the Lucifer comics may balk at this rewrite, but it’s more or less what we were expecting. It’s much easier to sell a sexy L.A. crime drama than a religious fantasy story inspired by Paradise Lost.
Screengrab via FOX/YouTube