It’s hard to overstate how much Luther means to Idris Elba.
“I’m going to die one day, and people will be like, ‘who were the characters he played?’ and Luther will be one of them. Stringer Bell, maybe, the commander in Beasts of No Nation, maybe Mandela,” Elba tells Esquire Middle East.
Luther, of course, stands out above all the others, not just from a fan perspective, but a personal one. When Luther premiered in 2010, it was a massive BBC-turned-global hit that cemented Elba as perhaps the most beloved British actor of his generation, who can tap into the dark charisma of a character like the flawed detective John Luther without ever losing his humanity and charm—the kind of bastard you want to follow down the rabbit hole.
It also pushed Elba to the next phase of his career, one in which he’s been a reliable leading man across the big screen that range from quiet character pieces to big budget superhero epics.
“Luther, for me, represents a very special junction in my life. If it wasn’t for Luther my life wouldn’t have gone this way. I’m currently living in a lane that Luther took me down. I learned a lot from him. I’m completely loyal to him, you know?” says Elba.
With Luther: The Fallen Sun, Elba moves John Luther to the big screen, a big-budget feature with Luther finding a way out of the prison he found himself in at the end of the last TV season, on a hunt for a new serial killer, this time played by Andy Serkis.
Debuting on Netflix today, the film sets a new course for the character and for Elba, who is clear that he will never do another season of the show, and all future stories will be for film.
“I’m definitely attached to film. I’m attached to the film storytelling mechanism with Luther. I’ve done TV, and it’s been amazing. And there’s so much you can do but with film, there’s now this opportunity to take yet another chapter of the storytelling to life,” says Elba.
And on the question of whether he will direct a Luther film, he is unequivocal: Yes. It’s a matter of when, not if.
“Without a doubt. I owe it to myself that one day I’m going to shoot this as a director. I owe myself that, you know? I feel my University of Luther has given me a degree that allows me to go ahead and shoot this at one stage.”
Read our full conversation with Elba below.
Idris Elba speaks with Esquire Middle East about Luther: The Fallen Sun
So you said in the past this role is, you know, he’s a shade of you, he’s probably the closest to you so he can kind of act as a form of therapy for you. Where was the therapy for you in the phone? Son?
Idris Elba: I mean, with my personal life, I don’t have restraints. I try not to restrain myself, I try very hard. We’re all restrained, gravity holds us down every day, but with Luther, he was in prison. And he was restrained.
It was a form of therapy to just be able to play someone that cannot go back and forth with free will. For me, examining that as an actor, that’s a form of therapy. It makes me love my life even more.
The fact that a man like John Luther can be cooped up, it reminds me of the liberty I have. I think that was a form of therapy, examining that if I go into jail as Idris it would not be a good thing for me, I wouldn’t be able to manage that. I can’t even conceptualize the idea of not having my freedom. And having John not have his, that was sort of therapeutic to think through that.
How has your relationship with this character grown in the more than a decade that you’ve been with him? What do you get out of him now that you didn’t when you first started?
Idris Elba: There’s definitely a sense of ownership and responsibility with John that I have grown into. I want my relationship with him to last.
I’m going to die one day, and people will be like, ‘who were the characters he played?’ and Luther will be one of them. Stringer Bell, maybe, the commander in Beasts of No Nation, maybe Mandela.
Luther, for me, represents a very special junction in my life. If it wasn’t for Luther my life wouldn’t have gone this way. I’m currently living in a lane that Luther took me down. I learned a lot from him. I’m completely loyal to him, you know?
Is this a coat that you see yourself donning for decades?
Idris Elba: I’m definitely attached to film. I’m attached to the film storytelling mechanism with Luther. I’ve done TV, and it’s been amazing. And there’s so much you can do but with film, there’s now this opportunity to take yet another chapter of the storytelling to life.
What are the other chapters you ask? I hear that. I think there could be a game, maybe Luther, the three-hour movie, maybe Luther the documentary? Who knows. But this is where we are at the moment this junction.
Do you plan to step behind the camera for a Luther project in the future?
Idris Elba: Without a doubt. I owe it to myself that one day I’m going to shoot this as a director. I owe myself that, you know? I feel my University of Luther has given me a degree that allows me to go ahead and shoot this at one stage.
Watch Luther: The Fallen Sun only on Netflix now.
Lead image: Luther: The Fallen Sun. Idris Elba as John Luther in Luther: The Fallen Sun. Cr. John Wilson/Netflix © 2023