Every Season Of Lucifer Ranked
Based on the character created by Neil Gaiman, Sam Kieth, and Mike Dringenberg for the graphic novel "The Sandman" and later solidified into the protagonist of his own series, DC's Lucifer was a man of two worlds. With the six-season TV show, viewers were introduced to much the same cynical but charming lost soul comic fans had grown to know and love, departing from the daily grind of Hell to follow his dreams of running a nightclub in Los Angeles. Despite his mythical status as the embodiment of temptation, DC's Lucifer is a significantly more nuanced entity, finding little delight in the mundanity of evil and instead seeking to cultivate his artistic side.
Some seasons may be better than others, but many fans would agree that "Lucifer" was a consistently entertaining gem from start to stop, featuring a cast of characters that even the devil couldn't help but love. Kicking off with a murder mystery and the introduction of Lucifer's major love interest, LAPD detective Chloe Decker, this was a series that thrived through the strength of its supporting characters.
Through early critical indifference, cancellation, and network changes (via The Wrap), fans followed "Lucifer" and were rewarded with a consistently endearing tale of a demon trying to navigate the intricacies of humanity. While the show was consistently high quality, it still had its up and downs — here is every season of "Lucifer" ranked.
6. Season 1
When a musician named Delilah that Lucifer helps rocket to stardom meets her untimely demise, he meets detective Chloe Decker, who becomes a source of fascination for him throughout the series. Season 1 shows us that not only do his demonic powers of persuasion fail to influence Decker, but he also becomes essentially mortal when in close proximity to her. Regardless of this, he navigates himself into a position as a consultant for the LAPD as an excuse to stay near Decker. Much of Decker's arc through the initial season shows her revisiting the case of a dirty cop in her department named Graham. While Graham is on his deathbed and her ex-husband Dan urges her to let it all go, Chloe doesn't let up and ultimately cracks the case — though there are a lot of twists and turns along the way.
While The Hollywood Reporter felt that Season 1 got off to a slow start by sticking to the traditional formulas of a procedural drama despite its mythical overtones, there are still plenty of reasons to watch. Top among them is the family drama between Lucifer and his brother Amenadiel, who is tasked with overseeing the gates of Hell in his absence and is thereby set on getting Lucifer back on the throne. However, when Amenadiel brings things to a head by stealing Lucifer's wings, Lucifer responds by burning them to a cinder.
As such, Season 1 very much kicks things off for this occasionally contentious but ultimately loving relationship between the brothers, and it's a big reason to tune in.
5. Season 3
A lot of Season 3 revolves around Chloe's new boss, Marcus Pierce, who temporarily throws a wrench in the works for Deckerstar shippers (it's okay, it comes back around). Ultimately revealed to be Cain — the biblical first murderer — Pierce worries about lying to Chloe, but it doesn't stop him from proposing to her. She accepts, but it's a short-term victory as she almost immediately calls the whole thing off. Meanwhile, Lucifer deals with his wings, burned to a crisp in Season 1, popping back up again no matter how many times he severs them.
The longest season of "Lucifer" proved divisive for fans, but as with Season 1, that's not to say it was without its charms. The revelation of Lucifer's true demonic face to Chloe shook the central dynamic of the series to its core and opened things up for them to move forward after seasons of will-they-won't-they. They may not have officially become a couple until Season 5, but Lucifer's true origin was certainly the elephant in the room, as he constantly fretted about how Chloe would react once she saw him as he truly was.
However, Season 3 contains a few oddities. For example, the final two episodes were filmed for Season 4 and then tacked onto Season 3 when Fox decided it would cancel the show (via TV Line). This was a season of turmoil but set us up for what was to come in a way that ultimately worked.
4. Season 2
Lucifer's mother, the goddess of creation — aka Charlotte — takes Amenadiel's temporary absence as an opportunity to escape Hell, much to her son's consternation. Taking over the physical form of a recently murdered attorney, she arrives in LA with the mission of reconnecting with her sons, including Uriel, who is set on killing Chloe if Lucifer doesn't return his mother to Hell. On top of everything, we discover during Lucifer's sessions with his therapist Dr. Linda Martin that he has a wild amount of resentment not just for his father but for his mother as well, largely because she refused to step in to help him when God cast him out of Heaven. An ongoing joke of the series in which Lucifer jokes about inventing "daddy issues," but in all fairness, he also has quite a few mommy issues.
When Uriel makes it clear that he'll be taking Charlotte whether Lucifer agrees or not, Lucifer kills him and feels surprisingly bad about it. Indeed, the heart of this season is in Lucifer's complicated family dynamics and his attachment to LA. He also enters a temporary marriage of convenience with a woman named Candy when he becomes convinced that Chloe's affection for him has merely been orchestrated to manipulate him. However, that's not even close to Chloe's biggest problem this season as her own family history unfolds in a b-plot. All in all, this is one of the show's most active seasons with very little filler to be found, which helps make it the strongest of the seasons that originally aired on Fox.
3. Season 6
After the turmoil of the previous five seasons, the final round of episodes showed us a Lucifer readying himself to temporarily step in as God himself, even if it meant bidding farewell to his beloved city and Chloe. Meanwhile, Chloe's ex Dan is still trapped in Hell after resorting to the shady tactics we came to know him for in Season 1, but ultimately forgives himself for long enough to find a little touch of Heaven. Maze and Eve marry, and they're in heavy competition with Deckerstar for cutest couple when they exchange vows. As Lucifer tries to bring himself to say goodbye, he struggles to find a happy medium that will allow him to live a life more suitable to his unique worldview while staying with Chloe.
Despite these major changeups, the procedural elements of the series remain very much intact, with a murder popping off in the first episode and Chloe finding herself unable to resist getting involved. Ultimately, critics such as USA Today felt that the series wraps up satisfactorily when Lucifer offers the opportunity to rule Heaven to Amenadiel instead. Most of us can probably agree that he's a slightly better fit for the role. Lucifer returns to Hell to act as a therapist, hoping to help others the way Dr. Linda helped him. Naturally, this leads to a temporary separation between him and Chloe, but the show ends off on a surprisingly endearing note considering the fact that they quite literally go to Hell.
2. Season 4
With Chloe reeling from the revelation of Lucifer's true identity, Season 4 kicks off by letting us know that she and her daughter Trixie have been traveling the world to get in touch with God. This leads to her teaming up with a priest named Kinley, who attempts a full-out exorcism on, well, Satan. Chloe can't go through with it, but her difficulty in accepting Lucifer continues to be a major wedge between them. Fortunately, Lucifer has a rebound relationship with his ex, Eve. To say these two have a bit of history between them is to say water is wet, but much of their run here involves Lucifer trying to exit the relationship gracefully while Eve gradually becomes aware of Maze's love for her.
The b-plots do a lot of heavy lifting in Season 4, with Dr. Linda and Amenadiel's short-lived romantic fling bearing literal fruit when she discovers she is pregnant, forcing them to consider parenthood in an uncertain world. Meanwhile, Dan is wrecked by Charlotte's surprising death in Season 3 and swears revenge against Lucifer, reverting to criminal practices to get it. When Lucifer inevitably breaks up with Eve, Maze is very much prepared to be her rebound, but Eve instead chooses to find herself. The season concludes with Lucifer and Chloe acknowledging their feelings for one another, but it comes on a bittersweet note as he likewise concludes that he must ultimately return to Hell. Critics found plenty to appreciate, and The A.V. Club even called parts of Season 4 "among the very best episodes 'Lucifer' has to offer."
1. Season 5
If there's one thing the wild family dynamics of "Lucifer" was missing, it's evil twin drama. Thankfully that is finally delivered tenfold in Season 5 with Lucifer out of the picture and back in Hell, and his apparently angelic brother Michael arriving on the scene to cause chaos. God also shows up and it's beyond awkward, but it's clear that he's suffering from mental instability as musical numbers break out at random. This means someone will inevitably need to step in to take his place, but rather than specifically assigning any one person to the task, God merely allows his many sons to fight over the dubious honor. This leads to the Morningstar's siblings coming to Earth while Chloe dies and is then resurrected by him.
Here, Deckerstar finally lives up to the dreams of shippers everywhere, and the timing feels perfect as Lucifer is dealing with his toughest challenges to date. This allows him to fully take stock of how much she means to him, and how much he has changed since meeting her. After quite literally facing down the hordes of Heaven, Lucifer is told he will be the new God in his father's absence, which takes us into the final episodes of Season 6. Much of Lucifer's arc culminates here, however, as he risks his own life to save Chloe and finally tells her that he loves her, with the last ten episodes serving very much as icing on the cake.