Days after Netflix’s surprise announcement that they would be picking up Lucifer for a fourth season, details have begun to emerge about the renewal.
The new season will consist of ten episodes — not counting the two “bonus” episodes that were originally produced for a Fox-helmed fourth season — running at the same approximate length of 43 minutes as the original episodes. This runs approximately half of the length of previous seasons of the Vertigo adaptation, which normally consisted of 22 episodes.
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As such, the Netflix-produced season will feature the first half of what was initially conceived for a follow-up.
“We were going to have two parts to it anyway, so we’ll just tell a really strong, gnarly first part,” co-showrunner Ildy Modrovich said in an interview with TV Line. “[Doing so] lets us concentrate the story and focus it, and that’s what’s really exciting about this. We have a really strong first half that is now going to make for an amazing story,” continued co-showrunner Joe Henderson.
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The day before its contract expiration deadline on June 16, Netflix picked up Lucifer for a fourth season following its initial cancellation by Fox last month. Production on the upcoming season is expected to begin in August, approximately the same start date as previous seasons of the series. Despite the halved episode order, the showrunners don’t plan to structure the show’s Netflix debut as its final season.
“There is always the potential for more,” confirmed Modrovich.