'Luther' Begins Filming As Elba Celebrates His Return To The Character
With The Harder They Fall garnering rave reviews, Idris Elba is already celebrating his next project with Netflix as filming gets underway for the Luther feature film. The streaming service recently confirmed it boarded the BBC project after Elba spent a couple of years pushing for another installment of the mystery series that made his career. Now Elba and Luther are preparing to return for at least one more mystery — and maybe more if the movie does well.
As fans of Netflix may have noticed, the streaming service has gone hard in promoting its feature film slate this year. Since January 2021, Netflix has been putting out multiple feature films a week, with a separate list of titles coming to the streamer each month released to outlets. That year of pushing its movie slate is now culminating in several oscar contenders, including Elba's The Harder They Fall, which is the rare all-Black western and co-stars some serious talent alongside the British star, including Regina King (Watchmen) and Jonathan Majors (Loki).
But Netflix has always been a bit of an everything store, and it's happy to support feature films of all levels, including made-for-TV movies like Luther. it's also partnered with Elba for multiple projects before, including his starring role in Turn Up Charlie. Though these might not be as prestigious as some projects, they have solid fanbases and bring in a lot of eyeballs, and Netflix is happy to keep on making sequels if they do well. (Looking at you, Murder Mystery.) Moreover, with Netflix's PR machine behind it, a Luther film could bring about a renaissance of sorts for the character.
Either way, Elba is clearly excited to be back in the famous trench coat and red tie.
Oi......I’m back! pic.twitter.com/wOxHBwnbxo
— Idris Elba (@idriselba) November 10, 2021
There is no synopsis for the new film as of yet, other than to note the movie "centers on DCI John Luther, a murder detective perpetually drawn into the darkness of the crimes he's investigating."
The new Netflix film brings back Elba as the titular Luther and co-stars new faces Cynthia Erivo (Harriet) and Andy Serkis (Black Panther) in undisclosed roles. With the series killing off most of the original cast over the last five seasons, it is unclear if any familiar faces will join Elba from the TV series in the film. The only ones left are Dermot Crowley (Bleak House), who plays Luther's long-suffering boss, DSU Martin Schenk, and Paul McGann (Doctor Who), who plays Luther's sort-of friend Mark North. Ruth Wilson's Alice Morgan was killed off at the end of Seaosn 5, and this time it seems very unlikely she'll be resurrected.
But then again, considering at the end of the series final season Luther was about to be arrested (again!) for the murder of DS Catherine Halliday (Wunmi Mosaku) and DS Benny Silver (Michael Smiley), neither of which he commited, perhaps it's for the best if no one transfers over.
The feature film version of Luther does not yet have an official release date. The show's first five seasons are streaming in multiple places, including HBO Max and Hulu, though notably, not on Netflix. It remains to be seen if that changes before the film's release in 2022.
