Funerals can be pretty intense experiences in real life, but you'd think that TV funerals would be easier to do if you know the actor is not actually dead. Actors stand around, dressed in black and looking sad, and all the emotional music gets added in the edit to make the viewers cry.
But that wasn't the case with Lucifer. Season 5 featured the funeral for the much-missed Dan Espinoza, and rather than having the classic but possibly overused 'Hallelujah' by Leonard Choen play, they got Aimee Garcia to sing in character as Ella Lopez.
As she revealed to TVLine, it was a pretty nerve wracking experience. Not just because she had to sing, but the scene ended up being filmed weeks earlier than planned, and the song was changed to Boyz II Men's 'It’s So Hard To Say Goodbye' just days before filming due to rights issues.
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"I was asked, like, ‘Hey, will you sing at Dan’s funeral?' she said. "And I said, 'Look, I basically had a panic attack singing for the musical episode, but as long as you give me enough time, I can do it.'
"Cut to: 'Hey, Aimee, can you sing this song next week?' And I was like 'what?' I was totally freaking out. But I said, you know what? This isn’t about me. Put your ego aside, Aimee!
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"This is about the story, the fans, and this is Ella singing. She’s not a professional singer, and she’s basically doing this as a prayer to someone she loves and misses... This is a beautiful tribute to a beautiful character, and just make it about that. This isn’t American Idol, there are no judges."
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Aimee actually put more work upon herself by asking producers to let her sing half of the song in Spanish, as tribute to both characters being Latin, but it's something that the actress is immensely proud of.
Beyond his touching tribute in season 5, Dan's death and the life he lived is going to have a major impact on a lot of characters across season 6.
Lucifer seasons 4 and 5 are available to watch now on Netflix, and season 6 will premiere on September 10. Catch up on seasons 1-3 via Amazon Prime Video.
![Lucifer: Season 5 [DVD] [2020]](https://hips.hearstapps.com/vader-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/1655395033-41lhZNnk5GL._SL500_.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=980:* "Lucifer: Season 5 [DVD] [2020]")
![Lucifer: Season 4 [DVD] [2019]](https://hips.hearstapps.com/vader-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/1655396301-413QNImVY0L._SL500_.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=980:* "Lucifer: Season 4 [DVD] [2019]")
![Lucifer - Season 1-3 [DVD]](https://hips.hearstapps.com/vader-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/1582197668-41nehWFoURL.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=980:* "Lucifer - Season 1-3 [DVD]")
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Joe Anderton is a freelance news writer at Digital Spy, having worked there since 2016. In his time, he's covered a host of live events and interviewed celebrities big and small. A big fan of TV and movies both mainstream and obscure, Joe also enjoys video games and in particular PlayStation. Joe currently does not use Twitter, but he only ever used it to tell people to watch the film Help! I'm a Fish.
