Lucifer season 4: Why Hulu, DC Universe are interesting streaming possibilities
We do stand by some of our claims that The CW remains the perfect destination for the series, both in terms of studio / network ownership and then also meeting ratings expectations. Also, the idea of having Lucifer meet John Constantine makes our brain explode.
Beyond The CW, though, we do think it’s fair to look at some other possibilities since it’s never a good thing to limit yourself too much.
Netflix – We want to get this one out of the way since like with almost any other show that gets canceled, there are calls immediately to move to Netflix. This, pending a miracle, isn’t going to happen here. For starters, Netflix doesn’t stream Lucifer in the United States and with that, doesn’t have any understanding of how it would perform for American audiences. They also are basically one of their own original properties every week at this point so they simply don’t have a need that Lucifer is going to fill. Beyond all of this, picking up canceled shows is not actually something Netflix does all that much. They did it last with Longmire after A&E ended it, but there were two differences there in that A) Netflix didn’t have the programming back when they saved this show that they do now and B) Netflix already had the exclusive streaming rights to Longmire even before it got canceled. While we know Netflix did bring back Sense8 from the dead for a farewell movie, that was one of their own shows.
Hulu – In terms of a mainstream streaming provider, this one makes the most sense by a mile. Hulu is already the exclusive streaming home for Lucifer, meaning that they know how the show performs on their platform. They also have a little more of a reputation of saving canceled network shows. They did this with another Fox series in The Mindy Project and also brought back Nashville with a little bit of help from CMT. They at least had some internal discussions about bringing back Brooklyn Nine-Nine before Fox scooped them up.
In terms of need, Lucifer adds value to Hulu since they don’t have anywhere near the mainstream original hits that Netflix has. Their biggest original property at this point is The Handmaid’s Tale — it’s an Emmy winner, but there’s certainly a discussion to be had on whether or not it is actually mainstream in the slightest. If Lucifer goes here their programming strategy of airing a new episode a week wouldn’t change, which we think works really well for this show with its case-of-the-week format.
DC Universe – The upcoming streaming service via DC Comics, which is set to contain both live-action and animated content, needs something to get viewers interested from the get-go. They are getting together Titans but as a TV series that’s a little bit of an unknown. Moving Lucifer over here could be a smart investment from the start since it would ensure that there is a series right away in which viewers will be interested in.
If there is an issue here, it’s that there are still so many unknowns in regards to everything from when DC Universe officially launches (at some point later this year) to also what their budgets for their shows are going to be. It’s an intriguing possibility, though, just because DC does need some popular shows to help get this service off the ground.
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