Bosch Meets Supernatural In Netflix’s 6-Part DC Adaptation With 87% On Rotten Tomatoes

Although a blend of the Prime Video police procedural franchise Bosch and the CW’s campy paranormal drama Supernatural might sound like a potentially disastrous mix, this unconventional genre mashup instead became a massive hit with critics and audiences alike. The police procedural has been remixed, rebooted, and reinvented more times than any TV critic could count, and David Boreanaz’s upcoming The Rockford Files reboot proves that the TV staple isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

Even the advent of streaming couldn’t kill the police procedural, despite the streaming format effectively crushing sitcoms as a genre throughout the 2020s. As the Law & Order shows continued to dominate network TV throughout the 2010s, Prime Video’s detective drama Bosch gave the series a run for its money with its rapidly expanding franchise. Starring Titus Welliver as the titular taciturn LAPD detective, Bosch was adapted from the prolific author Michael Connelly’s novel series of the same name.

Bosch’s popularity soon saw the show spawn a three-season sequel series, Bosch: Legacy, a two-season spinoff, Ballard, and an upcoming prequel, Bosch: Start of Watch. However, as popular as the show was with fans of police procedurals, it is still surprising to see just how malleable Bosch’s premise turned out to be for TV writers. As unlikely as it might seem, one popular show from the 2010s took the basic premise of Bosch and mixed it with the setup of the CW’s iconic mystery/ horror/ fantasy drama Supernatural, creating the breakout hit Lucifer in the process.

Netflix’s Lucifer Feels Like A Cross Between Bosch And Supernatural

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On paper, Bosch and Supernatural do not have a lot in common. The former is a dark, gritty, and grounded cop show about a troubled detective looking into horrifying cases, while the latter is a goofy, campy fantasy series that features everything from possessed teddy bears to literal gods and angels as its monsters of the week.

While Supernatural’s final season was uniquely wacky, the show never shied away from the stranger, more offbeat side of the fantasy genre, taking inspiration from earlier hits like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Charmed. However, Lucifer somehow managed to mix these two premises like they were the proverbial chocolate and peanut butter rather than oil and water.

Debuting in 2016 on Fox, Lucifer was loosely adapted from disgraced author Neil Gaiman’s DC Comics character of the same name, co-created by Sam Kieth and Mike Dringenberg. Tom Ellis’s titular Lucifer Morningstar was exactly who viewers would assume he was from his name, a fallen angel who gave up his day job as the Lord of Hell to move to LA and helping the local police with their investigations.

Lucifer Became One Of TV’s Best Fantasy Crime Dramas After A Shaky Start

Initially, critics complained that the showfelt too much like a standard issue police procedural show in the vein of Law and Order, especially for a series starring the devil himself. However, Lucifer overcame its initial tonal struggles when the show was renewed for seasons 4, 5, and 6 by Netflix.

Jumping to a new distributor did wonders for the series and, much like Lifetime’s Caroline Kepnes adaptation You gained a new lease of life after it was renewed by the streaming service, Lucifer wisely leaned into the sillier, stranger side of its offbeat fantasy premise in its later seasons. As the show moved away from police procedural conventions and into quirkier fantasy show territory, Lucifer went from strength to strength on the streamer.

Although Lucifer ended in 2021 after six seasons, this was likely for the best. The show’s inherent fantasy silliness meant it was never going to feel grounded like Mindhunter or Scarpetta, but, in an era when even Brooklyn Nine-Nine felt compelled to address real-life issues of police brutality and racial profiling by law enforcement, it would have been tough for Lucifer’s bizarre blend of Supernatural and Bosch to tackle such heavy, grounded topics effectively.