First announced last autumn as Gotham was about to premiere, the next TV adaptation to come from the pages of DC Comics will be in the unlikely form of Lucifer. Jerry Bruckheimer is among the producers of the joint endeavour by Warners and Fox (for Fox TV), and Len Wiseman will direct the pilot.
Mike Carey's 75-issue series for DC's Vertigo imprint has its origins in Neil Gaiman's Sandman. The particular Lucifer in question is the Miltonic fallen angel who reasoned it was better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven. In The Sandman's Season Of Mists arc, however, he abdicated from Hell too, handing the key over to Morpheus to dispose of sensibly. Morpheus gave it to the characters who wanted it least.
Carey picks up Lucifer running a piano bar in LA, with the help of his half-beautiful, half-monstrous demon cohort Mazikeen. The resulting series was even more deeply philosophical, serious and literary than Gaiman's, as likely to quote the Upanisads as the DC canon, although established characters did appear from time to time: Dream, Death, Delirium and Destiny all show up, for example. In a very small nutshell the overarching thrust of the series was Lucifer starting a new Creation: a universe in competition with his father God's. This causes, of course, conflict with many other powerful entities...
It is, frankly, an extraordinary proposition for mainstream American television: even more so than the horror-centric demon-busting of Warner/DC's Constantine, currently struggling on NBC. This is presumably why the pitch seems to have been seriously tweaked. Deadline reports that the logline for the Lucifer series has somehow become a police procedural, where Lucifer, having abandoned his kingdom, plunges himself into the "gorgeous, shimmering insanity of Los Angeles" and "gets his kicks helping the LAPD punish criminals". Sorry, what?
Wiseman was/is the power behind the Underworld throne, and directed Die Hard 4.0 and Total Remake. For TV he previously directed the pilots of Hawaii Five-0 and Sleepy Hollow, on which he's also credited as co-creator and executive producer. He'll get the same deal on Lucifer, alongside Bruckheimer, Jonathan Littman, KristieAnne Reed and Californication creator/showrunner Tom Kapinos.
No cast has been announced yet, but Gaiman and Carey's Lucifer is essentially David Bowie, so some sort of Thin White Duke would be in order. As always, give us your suggestions and thoughts below. Gaiman's Sandman continues to make its own way to the bigger screen.