Fans of The Young and the Restless who tune in to the upcoming fifth and final season of Lucifer may find themselves shouting things like "I've seen God!" as they sit in front of their televisions. The declarations won't be spontaneous religious breakthroughs but rather the recognition of the actor who will be playing the character of God. His name is Dennis Haysbert, and he had a brief, eight-episode arc as a Y&R character named Ron Clark back in 1986.
Entertainment Weekly reports that Haysbert has been chosen to play the ultimate holy character in Lucifer, which moved to Netflix for its fourth and fifth seasons after being canceled by FOX after its third year. The series follows the devil (Tom Ellis) and his celestial brother Amenadiel (D.B. Woodside), who are living on earth rather than in hell.
"We did like the big crazy list of [possible actors for the part], and he was my top choice," Lucifer co-showrunner Joe Henderson says of casting Haysbert as God. "We were lucky. It was our first and only offer."
The show's casting of Haysbert also gives fans an on-screen reunion between him and Woodside, who played his brother on the FOX drama 24. In fact, getting to work with Woodside again was one of the reasons Haysbert said yes to the part.
"Every time I see D.B., there's always this fondness and this connection," he says. "We worked on a show that was arguably one of the best shows ever produced in television, so you're going to have a kind of camaraderie... but I don't know how I went from brothers to father. We're celestial. We can do that!"
In addition to his Y&R role, Haysbert has a long list of credits that includes shows like Just the Ten of Us, Code Red, Knots Landing, Growing Pains, Return to Lonesome Dove, Now and Again, The Unit, Undercover, and Reverie.
Lucifer is expected to return to Netflix for its fifth and final season later this year.
What do you think about Dennis Haysbert being cast as God in the upcoming season of Lucifer? What do you remember from his brief run as Y&R's Ron Clark? We want to hear from you -- so drop your comments in the Comments section below, tweet about it on Twitter, share it on Facebook, or chat about it on our Message Boards.
