Interview: Talking With Aimee Garcia About ‘Lucifer’ Season 5, Ella, and Her Nerdy Shirts [EXCLUSIVE]

Sarah
10 Min Read
Courtesy of JOHN P. FLEENOR/NETFLIX

Lucifer Season 5, Part One just dropped on Netflix Friday, and we got the chance to talk to the incredible Aimee Garcia about Ella, Season 5, and her nerdy shirts.

Warning: the interview below contains spoilers for Season 5! Proceed with caution if you have not watched it yet.

Nerds and Beyond: The fan response to Lucifer has been incredible. From Netflix saving it from Fox to a fifth (what we thought was final) season, to now an officially final season six. How do you feel about all the fan excitement, and everything leading up to the release of Season 5A?

Aimee Garcia: So grateful, we really would not be here without them, and the show has been such an underdog from the beginning. I was lucky enough to come on board season two. Season one, I remember when it came out people were like, “oh a crime tech solving devil that is never going to work, that is so weird.” Six seasons later, it’s just a testament to the relatability of the show and the talented writers. I mean, one of the things I love most about our show is how inclusive it is and how it brings people together from all over the world, which is fantastic. I mean Africa, New Zealand, Europe, Mexico, Brazil, Canada, India, and Dubai. I just did a bunch of virtual fan meetings, and this 16-year-old guy from Singapore stayed up till 3:40 in the morning to chat for a few minutes, and I thought wow this is so impressive. I really am so grateful, and I’ve been lucky enough to have been on Dexter, and other big shows. I’m just so grateful because again we connect to ourselves we’re storytellers, so you obviously need an audience and there so invested and so passionate and to come to set knowing that people all over the world asked for the story to continue is such an incredible feeling. Because this really is their show just as much as it is ours.

Nerds and Beyond: Ella goes through a lot this first part of the season, particularly in the end. She gets really vulnerable, and we kind of see it bite her in the end. With everything with Pete, will that continue to affect Ella throughout the rest of the season?

Aimee Garcia: Yes, our writers are very good with emotional follow-through, and Ella is this bright light, and she goes to a really dark place, probably one of the darkest in the series. It is a really intense, disturbing scene. Yes, there will definitely be some emotional fallout from that, and more than anything, just trusting herself. I mean, we’ve all been there right, where you’re like, “gosh, how did I now see this coming?” so it’s tough. Because I think as bubbly and open and personable as she is, I think she does have a guard up herself right, of her personal emotional self, and when she finally lets that down, to just get the rug pulled from under her is so disheartening. So definitely, we’ll see Ella reel with getting her heartbroken and, more importantly, as a woman of faith having her moral compass feel completely off. So she’s definitely going to spiral further into a crisis of self, which in the season we’ll explore. Self-doubt for Ella is just not fun to see because what we love about her is that she’s a total nerd, and she’s a dork, and she does talk a lot, and she’s really energetic, and she doesn’t know when to stop talking. She’s definitely not the cool girl. And you know she’s just so herself, and so to have someone who is, so themselves doubt themself, is just not fun to see. But you know what would our show be if we didn’t break a couple of hearts here and there.

Courtesy of JOHN P. FLEENOR/NETFLIX

Nerds and Beyond: With that storyline being a big twist, what was your reaction towards it when you read it?

Aimee Garcia: I was nervous because it was different than anything I had done on the show before. I really thought Ella was the comedic relief who would just come in crack jokes, dance at a crime scene, and then peace out. Maybe speak some Klingon, speak some Spanish, French, and … call it a day. So, when I read Ella’s journey this season, I was a little nervous because I’m not as comfortable with those dramatic scenes. I mean, Lauren German (Chloe) is fantastic. In my opinion, she deserves an Emmy for her work on the show. She’s so incredibly invested and so vulnerable, and she just does those scenes beautifully. I mean, she ripped our heartstrings out last season when the man she loved gets stripped away from her. It’s heartbreaking. I mean, you’re there with her, and I really admire being able to do that. And for me, when I read it, I’m like, “oh gosh, this is not going to be fun.” I’m used to coming home from work happy and optimistic and full of energy, and these scenes can be really draining. I mean, I don’t know how much I can say, but I had bruises, and I really just got to go for it. I was nervous, and Kevin Alejandro (Dan) actually directed our cliff-hanger episode, episode eight, in the first part of the season. He did such an incredible job. He was so sweet he’s like, “Aimee, you know you did so well, and you should get an Emmy,” “well, let’s not get crazy, you know,” I said. I was really nervous, but I guess it worked, you just funnel it through when Ella was probably feeling nervous and confused and lost and all that stuff. So hopefully it ended up working, I haven’t even seen it yet. But we’ll see. I’m sure it’s definitely not a cute look. I’m sure I have a double chin going, and you know snot coming out of my nose. It’s probably not pretty. But our job is, just to be as honest as we can, so hopefully, that comes across.

Nerds and Beyond: So being nerds we LOVE Ella’s shirts. What was your favorite shirt you got to wear this first half of the season?

Aimee Garcia: Oh, gosh, such a tough question. Oh God, I will have to get back to you on that because there are so many … I do like this rainbow jacket that she had with a unicorn, which was super cool. I think she wears it in the first episode. But oh, gosh, I don’t know. There’s so many of them. There’s a periodic table, that was really fun. Obviously, the vamp you know, “morning sucks” with the vampire, that was last season was one of my favorites. “Every now and then, I fall apart,” taco t-shirt, which you know I loved. Yeah, I don’t know I will have to get back to you on that. I literally will have to go through my pictures because if I’m going to answer my favorite, I have to see all of them. I will literally go back and look at all the pictures, and be this is my fave.

[Editors Note: we later received a photo of Aimee’s favorite shirt – a clown emoji with the phrase “big clown energy.”]

Thank you so much to Aimee Garcia for her time. You can catch up with Ella Lopez and watch the first eight episodes of Lucifer season five now on Netflix. 

Nerds and Beyond is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

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By Sarah
As a Ravenclaw and introverted tattooed cat, Sarah enjoys reading, writing, and watching hockey (Go Leafs Go). You can follow Sarah on Twitter at @WyldeFandom
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