It seems nothing's ever really dead in the new world of peak TV.
Weeks after the show was canceled, Lucifer has been picked up for fourth season, but not by Fox, the network that axed the drama.
Instead, Netflix has acquired the series, produced by Warner Bros. Television, and it did so just in the nick of time. The cast's options were set to expire at day's end, according to Deadline.
Lucifer, based on the DC Comics character of the fallen angel who moves to Los Angeles, bowed to so-so ratings when it debuted at midseason in 2015. It managed to earn two renewals but saw viewership drop in its final year.
It averaged 3.3 million total viewers in live-plus-same-day-DVR-playback, according to Nielsen. Though it added another 1.7 million with seven-day DVR playback, it ranked only 109th out of 169 programs on the Big Five this past season. By contrast, the top shows drew more than 21 million.
Fox made a late call on the drama, opting to cancel it after the season finale ended on a cliffhanger.
The decision made sense for a network in flux. Fox has been struggling to find its identity since American Idol went off the air and Empire's ratings cooled.
The network has embraced several new strategies, none of which Lucifer fit into:
- It's moving away from comic-based dramas like Gotham, which was renewed for a final season.
- It's also embracing programs made in-house, just like so many networks who want a back-end interest in the shows they put on the air. That has left other dramas in limbo, such as Timeless on NBC.
- Finally, Fox is exploring broader-appeal shows all around, hence the revival of multi-camera comedy Last Man Standing, in the hopes of wooing a larger and more politically diverse audience.
So why, then, did Netflix pick up a show that Fox no longer wanted? For the streaming company, the move makes more sense.
Lucifer actually drew interest from both Netflix and Amazon, which see value in niche shows with passionate followings because they depend on subscriptions, not advertising. People will buy subscriptions to watch these programs.
And Lucifer certainly fits that "passionate fanbase" description. When the drama was axed this spring, Twitter users sent #SaveLucifer to the top of the trending topics.
Plus, Netflix is eager to get content from wherever it can. The service has invested billions in developing new content, including movies, specials, dramas and comedies as it increasingly competes for eyeballs with traditional TV.
Netflix, which previously has saved canceled shows including Longmire and The Killing, has not said how many episodes it has ordered for the new season.
