Fox is adding four more episodes to the purgatory of Lucifer season 3.
Fox made a pact for Luciferseason 3. The hellish network will take the last four episodes from season 2 and add them to the perdition of Lucifer season 3.
Lucifer was originally renewed for Season 2 and then got a "back-nine" order, bringing its episode total to 22. The series had only planned for an 18 episode arc.
”We designed this season to be an 18 episode arc because we originally were going to be 18 episodes. But then we got 4 more! Surprise!,” Lucifer executive producer Joe Henderson wrote to Twitter. “So we decided to create four episodes that let us play around a bit. Dig deeper into the character stories, play with format a bit, etc.”
The extra four episodes are being called "standalone" character studies. The four episodes will air at the start of Season 3 next fall, which means Lucifer Season 2 will end on May 29 instead of late June. Lucifer will start showing new episodes on May 1. Five of its remaining 9 original episodes will air before the season finale hits on May 29.
The four episodes “stand on their own, but also pick up plots we’ve introduced and bring in new stuff we’ll play with season 3,” Henderson tweeted.
The season three order is for 22 episodes. Lucifer debuted in January 2016 as a midseason show with a 13-episode run. Fox bumped up the season two episode order to 22 episodes. Lucifer returns from its midseason break on May 1st.
The renewal is only the second of the year for Fox (Empire season 4 was previously confirmed, and The Simpsons and Bob’s Burger had contracts in place). It may come as a surprise, but the show is outperforming its hyped and heavily promoted lead-in Gotham. Lucifer is averaging 3.8 million viewers, roughly 300,000 more than Gotham. In the DC TV universe, that would put Lucifer’s ratings on par with Arrow, still chasing The Flash but soaring above Supergirl. The key to renewals in the DC universe seem to follow one simple rule: Don't get ordered by NBC.
The series is based on Vertigo characters created by Neil Gaiman, Sam Kieth, and Mike Dringenberg, and stars Tom Ellis, Lauren German, and Tricia Helfer.