Netflix Releases The First Look At 'Luther's Feature Film Debut

It's been a long decade since Luther was first released in 2010. The police procedural starring Idris Elba was what took his career from "the guy on HBO's The Wire" to a household name. The Neil Cross series, which co-starred Ruth Wilson as Luther's nemesis/toxic love interest Alice Morgan, was a BBC One series that crossed directly to BBC America, where it ran on and off for five seasons before finally ending in 2019. Though the series might be over, Elba and Cross weren't done with the character, and in 2021, Netflix confirmed it had signed on to produce a feature film version starring Elba as part of their growing slate of high-profile movie originals.

Luther is not the only high-profile loss BBC America has suffered as the streaming world shakes out. (Doctor Who, which recently departed for Disney+, was always a much more significant title.) But the one-two punch of these former series that helped make BBC America a must-watch for anglophiles now carrying on with much larger streaming services has to sting. Moreover, Netflix's marking rolling out for Luther looks like one designed to get people's attention (unlike their more perfunctory PR or those shows that wish they could get perfunctory PR).

And if the photos are anything to go by, Netflix's takeover of the franchise isn't just improving things in the marketing department. It looks like DCI John Luther's life had a significant travel budget upgrade, even if his wardrobe isn't ready to handle the extreme temperatures.