Luther season 5 star Idris Elba says film version of BBC series is happening

The British star thinks the film could match the tone of David Fincher's 1995 crime thriller Seven

Jacob Stolworthy
Wednesday 19 December 2018 11:03 GMT
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Trailer for Luther Series 5 starring Idris Elba

A film version of BBC series Luther is looking ever more likely, with Idris Elba confirming a script is being written by creator Neil Cross.

“We are really advancing on getting a movie version [of the show] up on the screen,” the British actor said, adding: “Neil is beavering away on writing this thing, and I think the remit for the film is to scale it up.”

Elba, who was in London promoting the fifth season of the crime series, believes Luther has “all the ingredients to echo” films such as David Fincher's 1995 crime thriller, Seven.

“I think what we would like to do is use that blueprint to create Luther: the film. It will be more murder, more Volvos, more frowning Luther… essentially we just want to try to take it to a much bigger audience and scale, and perhaps international as well.”

Earlier this month, the BBC confirmed that the grizzled detective would return to television screens on 1 January 2019, with all four episodes airing nightly that week.

Elba returns alongside Ruth Wilson, who plays fan favourite Alice Morgan, as well as Dermot Crowley, Michael Smiley and Patrick Malahide, who plays DSU Martin Schenk.

Episodes will see “the moonless shadows of London give birth to a new nightmare” as a series of killings pave the way for “devastating consequences” for those closest to Luther.

The actor recently referred to the new season as a “segue” into a possible movie written by Cross.

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