In the dying moments of Lucifer‘s freshman season it was revealed that Lucifer and Amenadiel’s mother had escaped from Hell. At San Diego Comic-Con, the cast and showrunner Joe Henderson detailed how Mom will shake up season 2.
There was little doubt amongst #LuciFans that the addition of Lucifer and Amenadiel’s mother in season 2 would stir up some family drama — more so than the ever present Daddy issues of its first outing. You only needed to look at Lucifer’s face, when he admitted to Amenadiel that dear old Mom had slipped from her chains and made her way to Earth, to know exactly how terrifying a prospect her presence in the show’s sophomore season would be. But just how did the team behind Lucifer come to the decision to add her to the roster?
“It’s funny, ‘cause it just came from us talking about, early on we decided to ground everything. So it’s like everything has to feel relatable and normal,” Henderson said during a round-table conversation at Comic-Con. “So this isn’t a story about God and Lucifer, this was a story about a father and son. And his brother who was always trying to be the best son ever, and never gets the love that he wants.”
That grounded feel to the show certainly captured the fans’ interest in the first season. So where did the jump to Mom come from, without precedent from the comics — or the bible itself. Henderson added, “As we started talking about that, you start talking about what are the other familial dynamics. And the question came up, ‘where’s Mom?’ And all of a sudden we were like wait, there is no Mom. Well, wait, what if there was a Mom? And then, well, what does that dynamic give you? And then we just found this rich opportunity to play different dynamics with Amenadiel, with Lucifer.”
Amenadiel and Lucifer had what you might call a tumultuous relationship over the course of the first season, so it would stand to reason that the return of their mother might throw another complication into it — one that they probably don’t need. “What you get is both an inversion of Lucifer and Amenadiel’s relationship but also this question of who is Mom?” Henderson said. “Amenadiel has always tried to be God’s favorite. So chances are, his relationship with Mom isn’t exactly as strong or as loving as that. So what happens when she comes here? Is she disappointed? Is she angry?”
Well, we can’t imagine Mom will have been tickled pink over her imprisonment, so angry might be understating the matter a little.
“They both definitely have a different, their own points of view about their Mom,” D.B. Woodside agreed, of his and Lucifer’s relationship with their mother. “Amenadiel’s is a little bit more vague, because he’s always been the son that’s wanted and needed Dad’s approval, y’know, Dad’s respect, Dad’s acknowledgement. I think he’s always known that Mom loves him, but I don’t think he ever really focused on her. And so now we’re gonna get a chance to kind of see them form their relationship through the second season, and Mom’s love seems a lot more tangible for Amenadiel. Maybe something that he’s been lacking for an extremely long time.”
But what did the man himself, Tom Ellis, have to say of the shifting dynamic between the brothers, now that Mom is back in town? “We start the season with Lucifer and Amenadiel on the search for Mum,” Ellis said, giving us our first solid idea of where, exactly, the season 2 opener will find the siblings. “They’ve had to team up once again, because she’s out in the world and she’s not the biggest fan of humans. So, y’know, we need to get her back, that’s how we start.”
As someone that thoroughly enjoyed the resigned partnership that occurred between Amenadiel and Lucifer in season 1, a return to that dynamic will be something to look forward to when Lucifer hits our screens once again in September. “Ammenadiel and Lucifer have worked out a way that sometimes they do need to work together. It doesn’t solve all of their resentment with each other,” Ellis told us, confirming that despite their current truce, it won’t magically fix all of their relationship problems (nor would we want it to). “This is just a more grown up version of the pillow fight they used to have in their room when they were five years old. We always try to sort of personify it in that respect, and not make it this big, sort of mystical thing.”
“We want to make it relatable,” Ellis continued, reiterating Henderson’s sentiment for grounding the show. “So we’ve sort of, we’ve kept that notion, and of course, everyone has their own personal relationship. No one has the same relationship.”
“Just like your siblings. Each sibling will have their own relationship with their mother or their father, and then their shared relationship,” Tricia Helfer, who has landed the coveted role of Mom on the show, agreed, before going on to tease that, “there might be favorites.”
We can’t see that causing any issues between the brothers whatsoever.
But the real meat of this relationship will, undoubtedly, occur between Lucifer and Mom — as the one ultimately responsible for her imprisonment in Hell. Or was he?
“There’s definitely some surprises there in terms of what the real situation is,” Helfer said. “And I think there’s been a lot of miscommunication, which often happens in families.”
Are we the only ones that think that sounds a little bit ominous? Maybe Lucifer’s relationship with his mother may not be as antagonistic as we’ve been led to believe.
“There’s definitely some animosity, but there’s a lot of different levels to it,” Helfer told us, putting our brief optimism to bed fast. “It is a Mother Son relationship. It’s a very, y’know, like any family we’ve got our own natural dysfunction. We’ve got our own stuff that we’re dealing with.”
“It’s very much unresolved, where they were,” Ellis agreed. “And that’s where we pick them up. There’s stuff that needs to be talked through and there’s some, y’know, their relationship needs to be healed, should we say.”
Lucifer and Amenadiel aren’t the only ones that will be coming into contact with Mom over the course of season 2. Chloe Decker, who is now inextricably linked to Lucifer, due to her mysterious affect on him, will also come face-to-face with ‘Charlotte.’ But just what will those interactions look like between the two ladies?
“Mom definitely has, y’know, an agenda, like Lucifer learning things and discovering and changing, and so forth,” Helfer teased out, before touching on what Mom’s reaction to Chloe will be. “But I think that she may feel somewhat threatened by Chloe, to some extent.”
Threatened? Chloe certainly has a way with those former residents of Hell.
Speaking of former residents of Hell, we asked Lesley-Ann Brandt whether or not we’d be seeing any conflict between Maze and Mom — seeing as the former had a role as both Lucifer’s protector, and prime torturer. “Oh yes,” Brandt told us with a grin. “They have a lot of history, yeah. They have a long, sordid history, Maze and Mom.”
Surely things couldn’t get more complicated than that? But, well, this is Lucifer, after all. When prompted to respond to a question about how many children in total Mom might have, Helfer offered, “A lot. And we are going to meet some more.”
Looks like that family dinner table is about to get a whole lot more crowded.
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