While there were a lot of shocking developments in the second half of Lucifer’s fifth season, there were none as painful as the death of Dan Espinoza (Kevin Alejandro). Thanks to manipulation by Lucifer’s (Tom Ellis) brother Michael (also Ellis), Dan ended up murdered while trying to solve a homicide. But instead of going to Heaven, Dan ended up in Hell because he hadn’t fully resolved his feelings of guilt at the time of his death. Alejandro previously revealed that he would be back for the sixth and final season of Lucifer, though he didn’t reveal exactly how. Now that Season 6 is now streaming on Netflix, we know how Dan’s story ends.
Warning: spoilers for the sixth and final season of Lucifer below.
The season starts out with Dan in Hell. Just because Lucifer is set to become God doesn’t mean that Dan gets a get out of his torment free card, though Lucifer has done what he can to make the situation more comfortable for his friend. Dan’s not being tortured in the way most of the souls in Hell are with Dan instead playing endless ping pong with the demon Belios in an afterlife version of the precinct. But while that’s better than being tortured, it doesn’t get him any closer to getting to Heaven so when Rory (Brianna Hildebrand) shows up and offers to bring Dan back to Earth in exchange for his help in taking out Lucifer, Dan agrees.
Dan actually double-crosses Rory. He warns Lucifer of her attack but discovers that Rory wasn’t exactly honest with him, either. Now that he’s Earth side, Dan is a ghost and only celestials can see or hear him. Making matters worse, he can’t go back to Hell or to Heaven. He’s stuck, at least until he resolves his guilt. Over the course of the season, Dan tries to do just that, but has no luck with it, even after getting Mazikeen (Lesley-Ann Brandt) to help him at one point. It’s only when Dan accidentally jumps into the body of Vincent Le Mec (Rob Benedict), the man responsible for his death, and is able to speak with his daughter Trixie (Scarlett Estevez) that he sees the light. Turns out the thing keeping Dan from Heaven was his guilt at not being able to tell his daughter how much he loved her.
“The thing with guilt is that there really is no one who can help you,” Alejandro said previously. “You have to help you. I think a lot of what happens with Dan is really just lost introspectively within himself trying to figure out his own demons, so to speak, and why things happened to him the way they did because it happened so abruptly. That’s what you’ll find. You’ll find there is no help other than you helping yourself, basically.”
The last we see of Dan, he is enjoying brunch in the afterlife with Charlotte (Tricia Helfer), the two finally reunited in Heaven with Dan dining on his beloved Pudding Plus.
The sixth and final season of Lucifer is now streaming on Netflix.
Lucifer Season 6: Dan’s Fate Revealed
