While fans of “Luther” are elated to see the movie spinoff, “Luther: The Fallen Sun”, new audiences need not be concerned about having to play catch up.
The premise is written in such a way that it is both an introduction to newcomers and a familiar space for die-hards.
Of course, Idris Elba, who plays the protagonist DCI John Luther, is a drawcard for the Netflix film.
In shouldering the weight of taking his character to a bigger playground, he said: “It was definitely a complex calculation of things.
“On the one hand, the end of season five of ‘Luther’ was incredibly instrumental for what we see in the film. But the end of season five, for only those who know it, means nothing to anyone that hasn’t seen it.
“So finding a construct that felt true to the story but is also slightly relatable to an audience that doesn’t know it, that was the challenge.
“And I think where we landed was a really, sort of, ingenious way to bring an audience in.”
For context, the movie starts with Luther in jail. This is the result of his looking into the murder of Callum Aldrich, which made serial killer David Robey (Andy Serkis), who is a wealthy trader, wary.
As such, he dug up enough dirt on Luther to guarantee the outcome he wanted.
But, several years later, sleeping dogs refuse to lie and Luther is triggered by a visit from Corinne Aldrich (Hattie Morahan), who berates him for not keeping his word about finding the killer of her son.
As such, Luther decides to take matters on.
Elba added: “You know this guy is in jail. You know he’s a detective. But what you don’t know is that he will not stay in jail and he’s going to find a way to get out.
“And so when you watch the show, it’s like, ‘Oh, this is a man who broke out of jail to solve a crime’. And, if you don’t know Luther, that's great. If you do know Luther, you are like, of course, that is what he’s going to do. So, for me, it was a gift of a storyline to play.
On working with Serkis, he admitted: “Andy was incredible to work with. He was like a really great actor. A really nice person but just a great actor.
“This was a character that was not easy to unpack. He’s relatable but not. And he’s not very scary but he actually is.
So it was great to work with him.”
In my chat with Serkis at the same “Luther: The Fallen Sun” press junket, he was equally flattering of Elba. Even though these two industry giants are known, this is the first time they worked together.
Serkis shared: “He is such a formidable actor, as you well know, but not only that, as a human being. He has such big ambitions and a huge heart and, like you say, we’ve both been in the business for a reasonable period of time and I think we both share the idea that acting is one part of what we do.
“He’s also a musician, he’s a DJ, he’s a producer, he’s also trying to get films made in other countries to help their industries be sustained.
“And so I, too, also have other ambitions, apart from acting, to create artistic expression through directing. So it is great to work with someone who is not only a great actor but also a human being with a mission.”
Funnily enough, he wasn’t keen on slipping into the skin of a serial killer.
He admitted: “When I read the script, I really didn’t wanna do it because it was such a dark and horrible character, I thought. But then when I read what Neil (Cross, the creator and writer) had really written, I thought it was a great debate.
“Here is a character that offers up a lot of questions for the viewer and that is what excited me about it. It really opens up the whole idea of our relationship to the internet, to surveillance, to being desensitized by horror to our obsession with true crime.
“For me, the character is such an isolated, lonely human being who is unable to connect to people from other than what he observes and then he manipulates. So although I didn’t wanna go there, I found the challenge of the character too hard to put down.”
In the movie, Luther finds himself in a conundrum, where he isn’t calling the shots, as such, and he has to work with DCI Odette Raine (Cynthia Erivio), the current head of the Serious and Serial Crime Unit, who is hellbent on sending him back to prison.
But when the case gets personal, Raine realises who her true ally is.
Cross and director Jamie Payne also shared their thoughts on taking the series forward in a new format.
Providing context on the vision, Cross said: “I think the challenge was having a wider canvas…a bigger screen to tell the story on. The challenge, implicit in that, was staying true to the world and that character that we established for more years than I care to think about.
“But Jamie and I have known each other for a long time and it was important to Jamie and me, equally, in taking it to this larger canvas, we were able to stay true to it all the same time.”
He continued: “The thought process there was we established what we call Luther land, which, up until now, has always been in London. But Luther land to both Jamie and Idris is a psychological and existential territory and not geography.
“We knew that we wanted to take him beyond the boundaries of London but we had to take him somewhere else that was still in Luther's land.
“So we wanted to just take the opportunity, again, to expand his geography but to stay true to the psychological territory that he’s existed in so far. And we took him somewhere austere and challenging, beautiful, and cold.”
Payne added: “I think there are a lot of facets to Luther as a character and we want this to be the beginning of a new relationship for the fresh audience.
“The great thing is this story allows us to embrace the heart of what drives Luther and literally enjoy that unstoppable force of him as he puts you through to kind of catch his worry. And I think there are a lot of faces of Luther yet to be seen.”
Of course, it was only fair that Elba had the final word on the film.
“This movie is basically a big ball of escapism. You are going to see a man that is so committed to stopping a bad guy and he will not stop until he does that,
“But, at the same time, you are going to feel a little vulnerable because what the bad guy is doing is touching on something that we all worry about, which is: Are we being watched? And that is something I think is relatable to all of us in this cyber era, right?
“Look, if you love old school, 90s action thriller type of movies, ‘Luther’ has all of that and then some. It’s got scale, it’s got ambition and it’s got some real surprises,” he said, with unmistakable pride.
∎“Luther: The Fallen Sun” is streaming on Netflix.