Andy Serkis, Cynthia Erivo, Idris Elba, and Jamie Payne attend a premiere for the film “Luther: The Fallen Sun”, in London, Britain, March 1, 2023. REUTERS/Maja Smiejkowska
LONDON — Idris Elba premiered the first of what he hopes will be a series of “Luther” films on Wednesday, taking his hit British television drama to a new audience.
In “Luther: The Fallen Sun”, a Netflix film, Elba reprises his role as the brilliant but troubled and impulsive Detective Chief Inspector John Luther, the character he played in the award-winning BBC series “Luther” between 2010 and 2019.
Continuing from the show, the movie starts with Luther working on a new case of a missing person, when he is sent to jail over his past tactics.
In prison, he is taunted by a serial killer linked to the case. Haunted by his failure to capture the man, Luther breaks out of jail to find him.
“It was always a dream… We started the show… one season, two seasons, oh they like it, three seasons and then that’s when it started to percolate, that you know what, we can take this to a film,” Elba told Reuters at the film’s global premiere in London.
Asked if this could be the start of a series of “Luther” films, Elba said: “Yes… let’s put it out there. I’d like to see it as a series of films for sure.”
Actor Andy Serkis plays the killer taunting Luther.
“I actually really did not want to play this character when I first read it because I just thought I’ve played a number of dark characters, this is right down the end there,” Serkis said.
“And then I took a step back… part of the challenge of being an actor is trying to offer a character like this up to an audience and say: okay, really consider the debate about what this really means. And… he represents our folly really, our desire to give so much power to the internet, to technology.”
Series creator and writer Neil Cross said he had to strike a careful balance for fans of the show and new ones.
“The biggest trick was how to make one single stand-alone movie that both respected and entertained both audiences equally,” he said. “That took some work and some thought.”