"Rock Never Dies” — (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET) (TV-14, DLV) (HDTV)

RICK SPRINGFIELD ROCKS OUT AS LUCIFER – Lucifer (Rick Springfield) realizes that as rock star Vince Vincente, he can get his fans to do whatever he wants. Thrilled with this power, Lucifer arranges to play a secret VIP concert in order to kill all of them. Sam (Jared Padalecki), Dean (Jensen Ackles) and Castiel (Misha Collins) enter the underbelly of the music industry to try to stop him. Eduardo Sanchez directed the episode written by Robert Berens (1207). Original airdate 12/1/2016.

Any Supernatural scoop? —Wendy
As seen in these photos, a banished and decaying Lucifer “does come back into play pretty significantly” in this Thursday’s episode, says Misha Collins, who is “excited to see how that big twist” with the fallen angel’s storyline plays out. Meanwhile, Dean and Sam will finally encounter Rick Springfield’s incarnation of Lucifer — but sadly, not for very long. “Most of [our] time was spent tracking him down,” Jensen Ackles explains. “So unfortunately, we didn’t really get the pleasure of working with [Rick] that much.”

Do you have any behind-the-scenes stories you can share?

Great cast and crew and SFX folks! They tried something new with my character when Lucifer has acid thrown in his face. They did a ‘blistered skin’ appliance on my face and then painted small areas green. Then they ‘green screened’ those areas and then CGI’ed it so that it really looked like my lips had burned off and you could see sinew and muscle and gums. It was pretty great I thought. It was nice to see the two guys get along so well behind the scenes. It’s probably what makes the show successful. I’ve been on sets where when the scene is over the actors go to their trailers and don’t even talk to each other. It’s like my band; we are all good friends, and that shows on stage when we perform.

What has your favorite scene been to film so far? Your most difficult?

I think the last scene which is quite a long monologue (by TV standards) while he is falling apart and the human body is dying. I wanted to not just play him as an angry, superior spirit. I really wanted to show his feeling of being abandoned by his father and I worked a lot on finding where that final scene would go. It’s so easy for an actor just to hit one level (anger, pain, joy) and carry that through the whole scene but Lucifer is a seriously fucked up ( by human standards) entity, yet intelligent and more aware than anybody of what could have been for him. I don’t know if I achieved what I wanted, but I gave it my best shot. I think Lucifer deserves that.

How did you prepare for the role?

Lucifer? Ha. I have enough darkness, neediness, rejection, anger and entitlement inside me, so it was just a matter of clicking into that. I tried to play him as the angry/righteous/abandoned child.

Tell us about your character, Gordy.
Well, Gordy is one of those friends who will be there to join you in whatever hobby you’re into, ya know, to like, make you feel supported, but then make fun of you for how dorky it is every opportunity he gets, regardless of how big a dork he may be himself. He may not be the most considerate or sensitive of a friend, but he’s willing to try anything, just to see what happens and get a few chuckles. Even if that means taking a crack at summoning Satan, because really, Adam couldn’t summon a mosquito in Africa, and seeing him chant in the name of the devil ought to be pretty good blackmail material.

It was an absolute pleasure. A real breeze. With a crew that’s as dialed in as they are after eleven and a half seasons, it’s pretty easy to feel relaxed, which makes it a lot easier for me to do what I’ve gotta do. It was fun working with Eduardo Sanchez for the first time, too, who was the guy at the helm of The Blair Witch Project, among many other amazing projects. I mean, really? How cool is that? And working with Rick Springfield? Are you kidding me? Sometimes I’m like, “What is my life?” Ya never know who you’re gonna meet in this crazy business. And on top of that, I got to goof around with John Connolly all day, both on camera and off. He’s a guy I’d definitely like to act with again.

Do you have any behind the scenes stories to share?
Sure do! One of my favourite moments of the day was at lunch, when John and myself sat down to eat with Ed and the stills photographer, Robert, and got into talking about the upcoming (at the time) American election. Robert and Ed were really getting into it, and then Mark Sheppard, a table over, jumped in on the conversation, too. Now, I consider myself to be fairly informed about politics, but these guys were blowing my mind with how educated and intense their dialogue was. I am just so excited that the industry I call my own is one that is home to such creative, inspiring, and engaged people. It really assures me that I’m where I need to be.