Idris Elba To Reprise His Role As Luther In 'Luther: The Fallen Sun'

British actor Idris Elba's character of John Luther from the thriller series 'Luther' has been away for quite some time. In the 2019 finale of 'Luther', the dark series about the complicated detective, he is arrested and cuffed by Schenk (played by Dermot Crowley) and sent to prison.

Now he's returning for a movie continuation of his story, reuniting with director Jamie Payne and series creator-writer Neil Cross, as per the reports of 'Entertainment Weekly'.

"He's done so much to bend the law to catch the bad guys that he's ended up in jail. So that's where we start the story. He's contemplating what he's going to do with his life," said Elba.

Though Elba said the show's ardent fans had a lot to do with getting the movie version going, viewers don't need to watch all five seasons of the thriller series to get up to speed.

"The story in some ways continues - if you binge the series from season one to the film, the story is continuous. But because the film has such a large platform, we thought it was important that if someone was watching the film for the first time, it had its own story. So, you could watch the film and go back and binge the series. It was important to all of us that the audience could find a way into the series and to the lore," Payne said.

Much of that lore surrounds the anti-hero at the centre of it all, who is at turns dedicated, destructive, troubled and magnetic. And despite some new faces (Cynthia Erivo and Andy Serkis play freshly introduced characters), Luther's motivations remain the same.

"Luther is just so haunted - that's his whole thing," said Elba.

Payne shared, "Even when he's a free man, he can't help but chase it, chase the ghosts that get into his head. And I think that's what drives him in this film. He's just very haunted by things he's done, things he could have done and people that have died. Still, the prison has changed him and we, as viewers, have changed since Luther's last outing too. The film really digs into, again, our primal fears."