Luther star Idris Elba has confirmed the release date for the show’s feature film, Luther: The Fallen Sun. The actor teased a huge announcement on social media on Thursday, January 12th, followed by a video post of himself as his character DCI John Luther in which he confirms the news.
Elba captioned the post: “24.02.23 in cinemas. 10.03.23 on Netflix. See you soon. @netflix #LutherTheFallenSun [sic].”
The film adaptation of the hit series will see the actor return as DCI John Luther, a character he has played since 2010 across five series. Luther is a psychological crime thriller that debuted on the BBC on Tuesday, May 4th, 2020. The show, set in London, involves a series of grizzly crimes the detective has to solve, a concept the film will expand on by giving Luther his most difficult crime ever.
The film’s official synopsis is as follows: “A gruesome serial killer is terrorising London while brilliant but disgraced detective John Luther sits behind bars. Haunted by his failure to capture the cyber psychopath who now taunts him, Luther decides to break out of prison to finish the job by any means necessary.”
Radio Times reported that during a talk with Total Film about the project, Elba shared: “It’s not a competition, but I reference Bond as a template for the type of film we’re going for.”
“John is a leading character in a film that he’s the hero of. That’s the comparison I’m making,” the star continued. “Some films do them well – Bond is one of them. But my ambition for it is to have that sort of scale, that reverence.”
He added: “I want people to be like: ‘Ooh! Luther, the first film? Wicked.’ And to continue that. And then maybe later down the line, when I’m too old, someone else will step in to play John.”
The Luther series concluded on Friday, January 4th, 2019, with a finale that 8.87 million UK viewers watched.
Luther: The Fallen Sun will be released in cinemas Friday, February 24th. A Netflix release on Friday, March 10th, will follow this.
