Tom Ellis has landed the leading role in FOX’s forthcoming “Lucifer” pilot. Which will see the devil himself grow wary of his duties in the underworld and return to the land of the living. He takes residence in Los Angeles to run a nightclub/help the police with their weekly proceedings. A concept as regressive as television can get, and something we’ve already expressed our distaste for here.

Despite the silly premise, this casting choice is inspired. The welsh actor is perhaps best known to Americans as Dr. William Rush in last year’s medical drama Rush, and better known to British audiences for his roles in The Fades, Pulling, and Miranda. Genre fans may recognize him as Robin Hood in Once Upon A Time, or as Cenran on Merlin. 

FOX’s Prince of Darkness.

Despite a silly initial premise, Neil Gaiman’s “Sandman” introduced a perfectly nuanced Lucifer who really came into his own in Mike Carey’s comic book series. It remains to be seen how the varying degrees of inspiration will cook into something unique for television, but the source material is damn fine comics, so perhaps they lose the hokey premise early on, and realize that not everything need be a procedural.

So far, all we’ve got is a pilot order and this casting notice. Let’s see what else comes to fruition as the production gets closer to getting underway. Jerry Bruckheimer, Jonathan Littman and Len Wiseman are attached to the hourlong drama as exec producers, with Wiseman set to direct the pilot. The project hailing from Jerry Bruckheimer Television, Aggressive Mediocrity and Warner Bros. TV follows Lucifer, the Lord of Hell, as he resigns his throne and abandons his kingdom for the “shimmering insanity” of L.A., where he helps the LAPD punish criminals.