Idris Elba Gives Hopeful Update for ‘Luther’ Movie: “We Are This Close to Making a Film”

BBC TV series Luther star Idris Elba has added some more fuel to fans’ hopes for the return of his character, teasing the prospect of feature film in the future. Elba was speaking at a virtual event with Sky News to promote the third season of In the Long Run, his semi-autobiographical Brit comedy, when he was asked about the future of Luther. 

“There isn’t a real formal plan for Luther at the moment,” Elba said. “I’ve made it very clear that I’d like to see Luther come back as a film. And I can tell you this, that we are this close to making a film of Luther.”

Since its first season in 2010, the critically acclaimed show has gone on to have five seasons on BBC, with the fifth shown in Jan. 2019. While there has not been an official approval for a sixth season, season five received strong ratings in the U.K. and ended on a cliffhanger with enough open-endedness for a potential new season. For his performance as the titular detective, Elba has won two Golden Globes and a Royal Television Society best actor award.

This is not the first time Elba has mentioned the idea of a Luther film. “Luther has all the ingredients to echo those classic films of the 90s like Seven and Along Came A Spider and I think we’d like to attempt to use that as a blueprint to create it,” he told the Metro newspaper in 2018. “It will be more murder, more Volvos, more frowning Luther. Essentially we just want to try and take it to a much bigger remit and scale and perhaps international as well.”