Neil Gaiman, whose Sandman comics inspired the television series Lucifer, provided the voice of God in a bonus episode of the show's third season. But when God appears on screen in the fifth and final season of Lucifer, He's going to have a very different voice – yet still an awesome one.
That's because Dennis Haysbert has signed on to play God, who will be appearing throughout the season. As Entertainment Weekly put it,
the rebellious Lucifer (Tom Ellis) and his angelic brother (and God’s favorite son) Amenadiel (D.B. Woodside) will be spending some quality time with with their father in the farewell season.
This is a reunion for Haysbert and Woodside, who previously played brothers on 24. That connection is what landed Haysbert the Lucifer job – knowing that co-showrunner Joe Henderson was looking for an actor to play God, Woodside suggested Haysbert, who he had already discussed the idea with. That worked out, because according to Henderson Haysbert's name was already on the "big crazy list" of potential God actors.
Haysbert said,
Every time I see D.B., there’s always this fondness and this connection… We worked on a show that was arguably one of the best shows ever produced in television, so you’re going to have a kind of camaraderie. I don’t know how I went from brothers to father. We’re celestial. We can do that."
Ellis, Woodside, and Haysbert are joined in the cast of Lucifer by Lauren German, who plays Lucifer's potential love interest Detective Chloe Decker.
I have never seen an episode of Lucifer, but I have seen Haysbert in enough projects to know that he's always a great addition to a cast.
Lucifer's sixteen episode final season will arrive on the Netflix streaming service later this year.