Warning: SPOILERS for Lucifer Season 6.
Lucifer Morningstar (Tom Ellis) chose not to become God after all, but Lucifer season 6 took too long to get to that outcome. Lucifer earned the right to claim the throne of God (Dennis Haysbert) and all of his father's heavenly abilities at the end of Lucifer season 5. The Devil sacrificed himself to bring Chloe Decker (Lauren German) back from Heaven, which proved Lucifer was worthy to replace God. However, Lucifer season 6 begins months later with the Devil still stalling from becoming God, and it ends up being Amenadiel (D.B. Woodside) who inherits the role of the Almighty, which both makes sense but is still disappointing.
Lucifer's resentment towards his father was a pivotal component of the Devil's personality, but when Lucifer season 5 introduced God in mortal form, the payoff of the show's macro story looked to be the Devil ironically taking God's place as proof of his redemption. Lucifer season 5 was built around the idea that God was going to be replaced, and it was either going to be Lucifer or his evil twin brother Michael who ascends to the throne of Heaven. In fact, Lucifer season 5 posited Amenadiel becoming God instead, but the noble warrior angel demurred in favor of Lucifer and Michael waging a war over Heaven's top job. When Lucifer won the war, season 5 ended with a cliffhanger that left fans imagining the delicious and humorous possibilities of what would happen in Lucifer season 6 now that the Devil was God.
However, Lucifer season 6 starts with a swerve: the Devil admitted to a traffic cop (a cameo throwback from the series premiere) that he hadn't become God yet and there is now a technicality about ascending to Heaven and sitting on God's throne to formally become the Almighty. Lucifer (the character and the series) was obviously stalling, and it soon became clear that Lucifer would spend the entirety of season 6 finding excuses to keep the Devil from becoming God. Lucifer allowed himself all manner of distractions, and the most prevalent was the arrival of his daughter from the future, Rory Morningstar (Brianna Hildebrand). Rory time-traveled to kill her father for abandoning her all her life but Lucifer and Chloe worked to build a relationship with their daughter. This family dynamic - and the mystery of how and why Lucifer disappeared from Rory's life - became season 6's central mystery. It took all of Lucifer season 6 for the real plan - Amenadiel becoming God instead of Lucifer - to happen.
None of this is to say that Lucifer's arc with Rory where the Devil ultimately earned his daughter's love and fans learned the reasons why he vanished wasn't compelling. Lucifer and Chloe creating a bond with Rory and becoming a family was powerful and emotional, and it set the Devil on his path to his ultimate destiny to help everyone in Hell better themselves, with Chloe reuniting with Lucifer after her own death in the future. Considering that Lucifer set up an entirely different story of the Devil becoming God, it's disappointing that it wasn't pursued at all in favor of a completely different direction. Fans who spent the hiatus before Lucifer season 6 imagining what the world would be like with the Devil as the Almighty never even got a taste of it.
Of course, Amenadiel is, indeed, the correct choice of all of Lucifer's main characters to become God. Yet, Amenadiel's decision to ascend to Godhood was also a hard turn after Lucifer season 5 and most of season 6 built up to Amenadiel becoming a police officer. At least Amendadiel did become a cop before he realized he could do infinitely more good as God. Lucifer not ascending to Godhood means he never got to make the decision based on his experience that both he and the universe would be better ruled by Amenadiel as God. Lucifer season 6 did deliver fitting conclusions for all of the characters, including the Devil. Yet, Lucifer never becoming God at all is a bit of a bitter pill to swallow considering all of the build-up and how it took all of Lucifer season 6 to get to this outcome.
Lucifer season 6 is streaming on Netflix.
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