UPDATED: Netflix announced today that a fifth and final season of Lucifer has indeed been greenlit. Click here to watch Tom Ellis's VERY enthusiastic announcement video.



SPOILER ALERT: The following story contains major spoilers from the season four finale of Lucifer.

Long distance relationships are hard. But a long-distance relationship with the Devil while he's stuck on the throne in Hell and you're a human detective stuck topside on Earth is seemingly impossible. Lucifer's season four finale, now streaming on Netflix, ended on the cruelest note with Chloe Decker (Lauren German) finally confessing her love to Lucifer (Tom Ellis), and the two sharing a seemingly romantic kiss. But then Lucifer reveals that he has to return to Hell (literally right after the kiss happens no less!) to make sure that no more demons escape to wreak havoc on Earth.

It's a selfless, responsible act, but it ruins any possibility of him finally getting together with Chloe in a real relationship. Talk about bittersweet! After four seasons of will-they-won't-they between the Devil and the Detective, that kiss and confession of feelings is exactly what fans have been waiting for. To have it ripped away so quickly makes it all the more devastating.

But that final shot of Lucifer sitting on the throne in Hell was…well, a hell of a way to end Lucifer's first season on Netflix. The streaming service still hasn't renewed the show for another season, so this could be the last fans see of Lucifer and Chloe forever if season five never comes.

So, we got Lucifer showrunners Joe Henderson and Ildy Modrovich to break down what this ending means for Lucifer and Chloe moving forward, whether they crafted this episode as a potential series finale, if they plan to incorporate any of the comic storylines and much more. Check out our full interview below!

That final shot in the finale of Lucifer sitting on the throne in Hell was breathtaking. How did that moment come together? Did you always know he'd end up back ruling in Hell by the end of this season?

Ildy Modrovich: We did know pretty early on that we wanted to end in Hell with Lucifer on the throne again. But we didn't know what that would look like exactly and what the circumstances surrounding it would be. But we knew in Lucifer's arc of acceptance that by the end he would have to accept that he had to go plug the hole that is now spewing forth demons.

Joe Henderson: So much of our arc for him in season one was not seeing himself as a monster and coming to terms with that and having a genuine epiphany about the fact that he hates himself and needs to start to forgive himself. When we actually were able to get there and do that, it gave us this toy to play with of he doesn't really care about Hell and never really has, he's just done it because he had to. But if he is this genuinely good person that we've put him on this journey of becoming and in this position of responsibility, a good person knows what they have to do. What was fun was having our character evolve, and by evolving, shoot himself in the foot where he had to step up if he was the man he wanted to be.

IM: To use his power and his dark side for good was the aim. He's always loathed Hell, but he knows he has a meaningful purpose and is the only one who can control it and that's a good thing. Right now, anyway. He's almost proud of himself in that moment.

JH: And of course, because we're evil, we put that at the exact same time that Chloe returns to him. We are cruel, terrible human beings.

Yeah, not going to lie. That really hurt!

IM: Sorry for laughing maniacally!

JH: That is the nicest thing you can say. It is so weird that part of our job is to inflict pain, but it's for the greater good.

You're basically like Lucifer in that regard.

JH: Yeah! There you go!

IM: Exactly. We have our evil side and we've embraced it.

But in all seriousness, why did Lucifer's return have to coincide with the same moment he and Chloe finally confessed their feelings for each other? Why not make them two separate moments?

JH: That became part of the goal. Working backwards, we knew we wanted to get Lucifer to Hell, we knew this whole season would be about Chloe dealing with Lucifer and when we realized we had those two stories to play with, we realized what's the cruelest cut? The cruelest cut is Lucifer choosing to go back for the greater good when he finally has love right in front of him. That was the most mean and brutal thing we could do to our characters and to our fans because that's good TV.

IM: It's funny because we always had those moments separate in our heads, Chloe's acceptance of Lucifer and Lucifer deciding to deal with the responsibility of Hell. When we were breaking the episode, that's when we realized they had to go side-by-side. Lucifer's making the greatest sacrifice. He's making a huge, selfless move in that moment even though he's finally gotten what he wants. He rejects it because he has to. It's a beautiful, heroic moment for him and for Chloe.

That crazy cliffhanger does feel like you're closing one chapter of the show with this finale. Did you craft this episode in mind that it could work as a series finale if Netflix doesn't renew Lucifer for a fifth season?

IM: God no! We are eternal optimists, even after the cruelty of last year's cancelation and the brutality of that. We still believe. We do have more story to tell and we don't want that to be the end. But in a way, I guess it could be a poetic ending. We, like the fans, wish for some kind of a happier ending for Lucifer and Chloe so hopefully we'll get there.

JH: We always try to end each season, but not end the show. In particular, since this season was so much about Lucifer's personal growth and having an honest to God—or honest to Father—epiphany, we got a little more closure than we normally do. But we definitely also intended that shot of Hell to get our fans to once again demand another season and so far they've been wonderfully vocal at that.

If you are lucky enough to get a fifth season, where does all this leave Lucifer and Chloe heading into a new season? Have you figured out a way to bring him back to Earth quickly or is this something you want to explore for a while?

JH: I will say we do have the answer. We know how Lucifer and Chloe will see each other again. We know what our big drive for season five will be. Those are the important things to figure out beforehand. If you're going to drive the car off the cliff, make sure you know how it's going to land even if you don't know what the consequences of that are. It's going to be so exciting. We're dying to jump into season five. It's good.

IM: We just can't tell you!

Okay, so let's not get into spoilers then. Can you tease what the major theme is that you want to explore next season?

JH: I think that might actually be a little spoilery, but season four was all about healing. There was so much pain coming off the end of season three. Season four was putting our characters back together again and making them feel whole again moving forward. Season five will be about playing with that even further and breaking our toys again.

IM: Every relationship has issues, even after you say I love you.

The show has always been pretty separate in regard to the Lucifer comics. Do you ever envision going back to the source material for future storylines?

IM: As we forge through new story, things come up every once in a while that if they fit into the story we're telling… We just don't want to have to use things or characters. If it fits into the story we're telling, characters have come up that way and that's just the most organic way to do it.

JH: I'm still hoping to get Gaudium from the comics in there somewhere, but it's all about finding the right opportunity and the right story. As our seasons have progressed, the tone has shifted so much, even more so from the comics to the show. But that also gives you the opportunity to do a different spin on something.



Lucifer seasons one through four are now streaming in full on Netflix.

Sydney Bucksbaum covers movies, TV and comics for DCComics.com, and writes about Superman every month in her column, "Super Here For..." Follow her on Twitter at @SydneyBucksbaum.