Lucifer fans may have noticed that Maze hasn't been around much so far this season. But that's all about to change, as Maze returns tonight and will soon be back for good, said South African actress Lesley-Ann Brandt about her demonish character, in an exclusive interview with SYFY WIRE.

The first few episodes that aired this season were actually originally filmed for last season, when Brandt was pregnant. So Maze conveniently wasn't around for a handful of episodes. But the new mom is back playing the badass demon, and she admits she's thrilled to have Maze back in her skin. Lucifer, which is in its third season, will air 26 episodes this season, including the first four originally filmed for last season. The show airs on Fox on Mondays at 8 p.m.

Brandt (Spartacus, The Librarians) talked with SYFY WIRE about the third season of Lucifer, Maze's evolution, and what her hopes are for Hell's former head torturer.

Congrats on the new baby.

Yeah ... I was pregnant for about half of the second season. I had my son in July. I had about five episodes off, but then I'll be in every episode.

Is it your first child?

Yes.

How exciting to be a new mom.

It is, because you don't sweat the small stuff anymore, because you have this little being lighting up your life and taking your sleep away. He's amazing. He comes to work with me because I'm breastfeeding. He's on set every day I work.

What do you want to tell us about what's coming up for Maze this season on Lucifer?

It's interesting with this character ... Before a lot of it was exploring how to make Earth home now that she was stuck here, and in doing so she explored her own humanity through friendships like Dr. Linda, her relationships with Trixie and Chloe. Now that she's on Earth and she's established these friendships ... There's a side of Maze that's so childlike. She's a friend to Linda, she cares about Trixie, but she's still very much a demon. So the way she approaches things is really black and white sometimes, the way children are, where they just let the truth out without any kind of filter.

There's going to be some tests for Maze this year as far as relationships go, with some of her friends and how she handles that, especially around Dr. Linda. There's a friend that comes into their lives. Maze has never had to deal with this kind of feeling of "Well, she's my friend, and what about me?"

What's cool too is that they're teaming me up with a lot of characters that I didn't get to work with a bunch last year. So I have an episode with Ella, with Aimee Garcia. We have these two juxtaposed characters, like very different energy-wise, teaming up. And then I team up with Charlotte Richards as well, Tricia Helfer's character. Well, not necessarily team up, but we have a storyline, the two of us.

Amenadiel and I are going to blow up again. We're going to be at loggerheads, and there's a fight coming up between the angel and the demon, which D.B. [Woodside] and I are really excited about. The last episode to see that element was the third episode in the first season. So they've obviously gone through a lot together, and it's going to take something really huge for them to come back to that place. And like I said, there's this conflict with Linda and another person coming into the mix.

What they're doing with the show is integrating [all the characters]. We have such a great cast. And what's great about our cast is they're able to shine a light every episode [on some of the different characters]. Cause Tom and Lauren obviously lead the A storyline, but it's nice to have some of the other characters pop in the way Tricia Hefler did.

And you had a great episode where Maze was following a bounty to Canada, and there was a little romantic thing going on with her bounty, and Dan was around to help out.

You're going to see more of that with different characters. I think that just speaks to the strength of the cast. The writers have been smart to recognize that.

And there's a lot of things I don't know, that I can't tell you. Things I wish would come in. I wish Maze gets a girlfriend (laughs). I hope there's some more supernatural characters. Those are the big secrets they don't necessarily tell us, not in advance. But there is a character that is introduced that you wouldn't think would be a part of this even. This is the one I do know. There is a spanner in the works ... It creates a conflict between Lucifer and Amenadiel. Yeah. So it throws a wrench in the works.

In the end, what hopes do you have for Maze?

I hope that she finds her peace. There is a part of her that's very much figuring things out. And maybe not this season, or the next season, or the season after that, but I hope long-term-wise, she finds everything that bodes her well. And I certainly hope she finds someone to care about and to love. Who that may be, be it man or woman, I don't know. And I hope that she gets closer to her friend Lucifer again, the way they used to be. I think in the comic book they're just so tied into each other. I think right now she's the Lord of Hell herself. So she's a powerful, powerful character in that world. I hope she finds that power again.

There's actually an episode [coming up] where you see them when they first come to Earth. A little flashback. So yeah.

I always felt like in the first season it was a given that these two characters would be friends or former lovers or whatever, but we never actually explored it. So I hope we get to see a lot more of Maze and Lucifer.

What are the significant themes that are running through the season?

It's definitely jealously, for sure ... Just looking at that whole Pierce, Lucifer, Chloe situation ... I imagine. That relationship's forming, and Lucifer's [feeling] threatened by it in some way. With Charlotte, it's about how to pick up the pieces. And there's such amazing empathy from Dan, who we like to poke fun of in the show. Dan is the butt of the joke sometimes, but he's a really good person. I actually have some really funny work with Dan and Charlotte.

Those three characters are so very different.

Yeah, Maze, Dan, and Charlotte, and then given the history of Charlotte's body. She's no longer Mom, but I still look at her and remember Mom. I'm just really lucky. I get to work with everyone this season. Obviously more Trixie. Lots of Trixie.

I love Maze and Trixie.

Scarlett is just a sweetheart. She's so not affected by the business, but she's so talented and professional and she likes to have fun. Maybe that's why she's got such a great career ahead of her. "For as long as she wants to do it." That's what her mother always says, which I think is such a healthy perspective to have. She's amazing.

I love the relationship between Maze and Trixie because Maze treats her like an adult (laughs), which is where the humor comes out of it. The episode with Ella, when Maze and Ella come up, there's this scene with Trixie that is just so funny. It's probably going to be the fans' most favorite Trixie and Maze scene to date, 'cause it's just hilarious. It trumps the Halloween episode or anything we've done before.

What episode is that?

I'm not sure where it comes in, but it's a Maze and Ella episode.

How is Maze special to you as an actress?

For one, it's the first character that has actual source material for me to go back and look at, which is very helpful. I never judge any of the characters that I've played, but she's a character that is so easy to judge as just being the bad girl. But there's so much more to her. There's so many layers to Maze. And that's been really fun to discover as an actress.

I love that she represents the LGBT community. She's just like, "Whatever goes," and she doesn't apologize for it. And she's there for her friends and she still has a heart, and I love representing that in a positive way. But I think it's the one character, and maybe it's the character that I've had the time to discover because we're three seasons in, but I still discover new things about her all the time. And it's so easy to play her one-note, like I said, but there's nothing about her that's one-note. Just when you think like, "Oh, that's how she'll respond," she'll break your heart. Or just when you think she'll have empathy, she'll be like not interested. It's like, "Human emotion makes me sick." So she keeps me on my toes, which I love.

And then there's the physicality of her too. It's funny. It's the one character when I slip on my wardrobe and my makeup and my hair, I instantly just feel like Maze. It's the walk and the saunter and the way she speaks, and fortunately she fits really good in my skin. She fits perfectly. Sometimes you get cast in roles where it doesn't feel as perfect initially. But with her it was instant. When I auditioned I wore leather pants and boots [and a bra] ... 'cause I was like, this is who she is. She just does not give a f***. It's the character I've got to explore the most, just her entire life cycle, and it continues to grow.

She's so unapologetic.

Absolutely.

She just says what she thinks, she does what she wants. Even though she says she doesn't have a soul, she does have a conscience.

Yeah, and it's growing.

Especially because of the people she cares about.

Totally. She cares about them, and she genuinely gets hurt. So I think these discoveries are occupying her and keeping her busy and making her feel more at home. Bounty hunting certainly has, and she gets to unleash Hell on criminals.

It's the perfect job for her. She gets to beat people up.

Probably break some fingers when no one's looking. She gets her thrills with bounty hunting for sure.

How is she most like you and least like you?

She's most like me with how passionately she cares and protects the people that she loves. I'm like that. It's been like that since I was a kid. I was brought up to believe in standing up for my friends. So I think I'm most like that with her in that respect. I'm probably as explosive as her at times, about things and social things I care about. We're feisty. We're sassy. I do own sassy pants (laughs). So I'm least like her ... You know the whole torture thing, that's sort of not really my jam (laughs). I don't really enjoy tying people up and hurting them physically.

The way I relate to her is that she can make a mistake and learn from it and grow. And that I relate to as a person, as an actress, as a mother, as a wife, as a human being. We're not perfect. She's certainly not perfect, but she's doing her best given the circumstances and who she is and where she grew up and what she's used to. Mistakes will happen, but she can roll with it and move on.

Why should someone who's never seen Lucifer, or someone who hasn't been watching it lately, catch up and turn in this season?

Our show's a lot of fun, and it doesn't take itself too seriously. And I think, given where the world is at right now, we really need a good laugh. If you are familiar with the comic book, it's a depiction of what happens in those graphic novels. It's fun to see the characters from the comics realized on a television show.

And then if you're not into comics, the show has got a lot of humor, a lot of drama. It's really rooted in humanity. And even if you are a religious person our show is about humanity and the goodness of humans, and the Devil discovering that. And him discovering his own humanity. These characters who are essentially bad ... they're actually showing us the good that exists within our world, be it through Trixie, be it through Chloe, be it through Linda.

And it's a lot of fun, our show. It has a procedural aspect to it, but there is a storyline that is connected, and as you get into it and you see these characters develop and grow, the show just gets better and funnier and darker.