Trailers are notorious for including unwelcome spoilers for the movies and TV shows they advertise. The first preview for season 5 of Lucifer seems guilty of this as well, revealing that the seemingly returned King of Hell is in fact his twin brother the archangel Michael, also played by Tom Ellis while adopting a questionable American accent, but it will hopefully be more justified than appears at first glance.
Season 5 of Lucifer was written and largely filmed before the series was greenlit for a sixth and final season, therefore it follows that the Michael storyline will be resolved by the season’s end, meaning that the reveal of his identity will come early on, making the spoiler less of a crime than it might otherwise have been. Stringing along viewers for too long would only result in anger, as they would feel cheated out of any emotional development seen prior to the revelation, and more generally often become frustrated with characters displaying willful blindness to something that should be obvious to them.
It will probably be revealed at the end of the first episode, as it comes via Maze’s predictably violent reaction to the return of ‘Lucifer,’ as she’ll demand to see him as soon as possible and she’s not one who’s ever shown much hesitation in expressing herself. Every scene with Michael in the trailer is from the perspective of someone else, so any moment he’s alone or with someone he doesn’t have to dupe would be difficult to script in such a way that stays consistent to the reveal while also maintaining the illusion of his identity. So, to not feature any such scenes would quickly become a glaring omission.
With the reveal out of the way, the rest of the season will probably be a battle against Michael and revolve around the discovery of why he’s so, well, hellbent on destroying Lucifer’s life, along with when and how Lucifer himself will actually return. If you recall, Lucifer returned to Hell in order to avert the fallout of a prophecy that meant he and Chloe being together will result in evil being unleashed upon the Earth, something not simply resolved by the mere passage of time.
Marketers never seem to fully understand that spoilers are hateful, infuriating things that should be avoided at all costs, and that audiences like to be surprised in their viewing rather than waiting for key moments they’ve been informed of ahead of time. Hopefully, those responsible for the Lucifer trailer understand this more than some, and have only spoiled an early reveal in order to keep later ones a secret.