The “Lucifer Cast” panel on Saturday at 1PM in the Hyatt Centennial II–III ballroom got off to a forgivably late start since panelist Lesley-Ann Brandt needed to breastfeed her 6-week-old son before she could attend. No one in the audience seemed to mind, and Brandt seemed to have as much fun answering our questions as we did asking them.
Brandt confirmed that they are having as much fun filming the show as you might imagine from watching the show. They are truly a family on set and have a lot of fun together. One specific example included an incident where Tom Ellis (Lucifer) split his pants during a scene and Brandt ran in to take a picture. She said that if you follow any of them on Instagram, it will be easy to see just how much fun they are having.
It turns out that Brandt does as much of her own stunt work as she can. There are certain things she won’t do, like the really hard falls. However, she said that the stunt people like to fight her because she is a very safe fighter. “Tom, FYI, in the episode where we fight in season 2? He clocked me. I was four months pregnant! I think I kind of got him back with a head butt.”
One question was about Mazikeen (Maze) and her signature blades that were especially featured in the Halloween episode. Early on in the series Ellis, Brandt, and D.B. Woodside (Amenadiel) trained with Diana Lee Inosanto, who is Bruce Lee’s goddaughter, and her husband, Ron Balicki. Both are familiar with the karambit blades, and stunt coordinator Daniel Rizzuto came up with the idea to use them. The blades are interesting because they cut on both the inside and the outside. “I wanted it to be like an extension of my hands. … I owe it to Dan because he really chose a cool weapon for me.”
There are not a lot of people who can speak with authority about playing a demon, and Brandt was happy to offer some insights. Maze’s job in Hell was to torture humans, and a lot of her journey in the show is about learning that not all humans are useless sacks. Over time, Maze has come to love specific humans, and that caring manifests in its own way. But hunting humans is still fun, so it makes sense that she’s become a bounty hunter. “She’s exploring her humanity in her own demon way. … But if you hurt someone she cares about, she will cut you. And then watch you bleed out in front of her.”
Brandt added that playing a demon is all in the attitude and how Maze interprets the world that she’s in. The biggest thing is to be honest in the moment.
The dynamic between Maze and Trixie (Scarlett Estevez), Chloe’s young daughter, is particularly important to Brandt. It contains a lot of genuine truth moments. Children are so open and with Trixie, Maze can show her true self and her true demon face and feel comfortable.
There wasn’t much that Brandt could share about the upcoming season, but she was able to tease a Maze stand-alone episode that will follow her on a bounty hunt. She also said that for the first time we’ll get to see Maze explore experiencing intense jealousy on the show.
