It’s all family drama, all the time. Lucifer season 2 has added Michael Imperioli as Lucifer and Amenadiel’s brother, Uriel.
We should have known that an announcement like this was coming.
At San Diego Comic-Con, when questioned about how many children ‘Mom’ might have, Tricia Helfer answered, “A lot. And we are going to meet some more.”
Well, now we’re being introduced to one of those many siblings, as promised by Helfer — and he comes in the form of Michael Imperioli, who won a well-deserved Emmy for his role as Christopher Moltisanti on HBO’s The Sopranos. And if that role sets any precedent, Lucifer and Amenadiel are in for one Hell of a time.
“Amenadiel is the older brother, Lucifer is the little brother who got all the attention, and Uriel is the one lost in the middle,” Joe Henderson told TVLine. “He’s got a chip on his shoulder, and that will be a big part of him coming down.”
There’s little information, other than the above, available about Imperioli’s role itself, only that he will be playing the middle brother to Lucifer and Amenadiel. If that shoulder-chip turns into a crack, we can imagine that Lucifer and Amenadiel might be the unwitting recipients of any fallout.
We don’t currently know whether Imperioli will be a series regular, like recent second season cast additions Aimee Garcia (Ella Lopez) and Tricia Helfer (Mom), or a guest star. With the potential to shake things up even further for the two brothers, we’re hoping for a prolonged presence.
Of course, this isn’t the first time we’re hearing about Uriel. Back in the sixth episode, “Favorite Son,” we got our first inkling that Uriel might become a future presence on the show itself, when Lucifer mentioned his absent sibling.
“Do you know, I am amazed by the deferential regard you people hold for rotting flesh. I mean, this poor sap’s either already in Hell or in the Silver City enduring Uriel’s welcome speech, which is far worse than Hell, if you ask me.”
That mention, in fact, came so suspiciously close to Lucifer having his wings stolen, that we theorized that Uriel might have been the true culprit — before learning in the following episode that Amenadiel was behind the theft.
As we said in that article, Uriel was never a significant presence in the comics — a fact that will likely work in the show’s favor, giving them the freedom to explore the character on their own terms.
Knowing what we do now about Amenadiel and Lucifer’s tentative truce, we could see Uriel taking up some of Amenadiel’s previous duties. Most notably, his task to reinstate Lucifer to his position in Hell. That would put a significant strain on Lucifer and Amenadiel’s fragile relationship, perhaps more so than their mother’s presence, but also provide an interesting foil to Amenadiel.
If our theory is correct, and Father sees fit to send Uriel down to Earth to complete Amenadiel’s task for him… well. We can’t imagine Amenadiel will take to that too kindly.
So much family drama, so little time.