What to Know About Michael, the Newest Villain to Arrive on 'Lucifer'
SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers from the first half of season 5 of Lucifer.
The first half of season five of Lucifer just dropped on Netflix, and the show wasted no time in creating twists and turns for its loyal fanbase. When the season opens, we see some things haven’t changed with our crime-solving characters. Lucifer (Tom Ellis) is still ruling over Hell. He and Detective Chloe Decker (Lauren German) are still trying to grapple with their love for one another, which she admitted to him at the end of season four before he left to go back to the underworld. But nothing has the chance to stay consistent for too long in Lucifer’s world, and havoc must be brought onto Earth in some form. This time though, it comes in the form of Lucifer’s identical twin brother, archangel Michael (also played by Tom Ellis).
While it’s a new twist, Michael doesn’t necessarily come as a big shock to fans—the character was already revealed in the season five trailer back in July. He clearly has some unfinished business with the Lord of Hell, as he begins impersonating Lucifer when he touches down on Los Angeles in the season premiere. While he’s eventually found out to be an impostor, thanks to a confrontation with Maze (Lesley-Ann Brandt), his presence does linger quite heavily throughout the first half of the season.
As he says in the trailer: “I’m not gonna break Lucifer’s life—I’m gonna take it.”
As fans go about binge watching the rest of the season, here are some quick tidbits about Michael—and what viewers can expect from him:
His storyline begins in the Bible.
As the majority of the show’s characters are rooted in the Bible, it’s no surprise to find that Michael’s storyline has biblical origins as well. Though his character is expressed differently depending on the monotheistic religion (Judaism, Christianity, Islam), judging from the show’s premise, it would make sense for Michael’s attributes to be taken from the New Testament, which states that he was the angel who led God’s armies to defeat Lucifer when the latter went against his father. One thing to note before going in too deep: Michael is always deemed to be the good guy in Biblical texts, while the show depicts him as evil (having the Devil as the protagonist will probably make that happen).
He is found in DC Comics as well.
While we already know the show likes to spice up the traditional folklore of the Bible, the producers and writers do have an affinity for plucking out important characters from its DC comic origins and using them as they see fit to drive the series’ storylines.
Debuting in 1990’s The Books of Magic #1 (created by Neil Gaiman and John Bolton), Michael’s shown to always have a rift with his twin brother. While the origin of why he’s angry with Lucifer is rather complicated (it has something to do with Michael being chained to a pillar and the fallen angel Sandalphon trying to create warrior angels), it’s clear he’s out for some major vengeance, which the show uses as an overarching storyline throughout most of season 5.
Michael doesn’t only have a problem with Lucifer.
While it seems like Michael’s set his sights on wreaking havoc for Lucifer, it looks like he’s not the only family member he has issues with. The trailer also shows Michael fighting with brother Amenadiel (D.B. Woodside), who fans remember freaked out on partner Linda (Rachael Harris) when she suggested the duo name their baby Michael back in season 4.
As Woodside joked at an L.A. Lucifer convention back in 2019: “I think a lot of the family has a problem with Michael.”
Tom Ellis had trouble portraying both characters at once.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly prior to the season's premiere, Ellis revealed he had some trouble trying to play both parts, as the way the brothers operate on the show are distinctively different, from their accents (Lucifer’s known for his British dialect while Michael sounds American) to the color of their wings (Lucifer = white; Michael = black) to the way they carry themselves on screen.
"I’ve had to sort of learn a different process because I have to switch on and off, and back in and out of different characters, so quickly,” he told the publication. “So, I’ve just had to find shortcuts for myself, which is a lot of the reason why I wanted to make Michael different—[especially] the way that he is physically."
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