Luther: The Fallen Sun; what Idris Elba has been up to between Luther Season 4 and new film

If the family-friendly comedy horror We Have A Ghost isn’t enough to satisfy your weekend viewing, then perhaps a familiar face returning to the small screen might help scratch that mystery-thriller itch. Idris Elba makes his triumphant return to the role that made him a household name as (former) DCI John Luther in the Netflix Original film Luther: The Fallen Sun, streaming from March 13 2023 on the streaming giant.

Having been teased throughout the tail end of 2022, fans have had to wait over four years to see what happened to Elba’s beloved, if not flawed character, after the culmination of Season 4 back in 2019. There has long been an interest in picking up the story of the character once again, but one that had creators and even Elba himself thinking about what would be the best course of action.

Even when asked previously if he would like to return to the character, Elba told reporters that he envisioned a feature film regarding what has happened to Luther after the events that took place in its final season on the BBC. It looks like Elba got his wish, as the London-born actor returns to the role with Luther’s original creator Neil Cross also returning to pen the script.

It’s not as though Elba has been starved of roles since leaving one of his landmark roles (we count Stringer Bell from The Wire as another of his landmark roles), as the actor has bounced between the small screen and the big screen in the four years between. From voicing an animated echidna to playing a magical djinn opposite Tilda Swinton.

Peopleworld takes a look at some of the roles Big Driss has appeared in between the end of Luther on the BBC through to his role in the revived film - and unfortunately, that includes a certain film that was critically mauled.

The roles of Idris Elba between Luther and Luther: The Fallen Sun

Cats (2019)

Let’s just address the elephant in the room first; that film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s seminal theatrical classic Cats. It seemed to have everything going for it - Tom Hooper directing the piece after the success he had with 2012 Les Miserables and 2015’s The Danish Girl starring Eddie Redmayne. A fantastic cast of actors including Jennifer Hudson, Judi Dench, Taylor Swift, Sir Ian McKellen and Elba playing Macavity the Mystery Cat.

We all know what happened after its release. The film was mauled by critics and earned several Golden Raspberry awards in the process - though there was some sympathy for Idris, as Peter Debruge of Variety called the film "one of those once-in-a-blue-moon embarrassments that mars the résumés of great actors (poor Idris Elba, already scarred enough as the villainous Macavity.)”

The Suicide Squad (2021)

Elba had big shoes to fill as he replaced Will Smith as the lead in James Gunn’s sequel (or reboot might be fairer to say) to another critically maligned film, Suicide Squad. Thankfully, the wit of the script, fantastic if not bizarre action sequences and flanked by a fantastic cast including Margot Robbie, John Cena and Sylvester Stallone in a voice acting role won fans back over.

It’s been credited as one of the reasons James Gunn took over as co-chairman and co-CEO of DC Studios alongside Peter Safran, and Idris Elba played the foil to many of the movie’s humorous moments playing the straight man compared to the frat boy antics of The Peacemaker (John Cena).

Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (2022)

Another voice acting role for Idris Elba, but rather than a bison as a police chief (Zootopia), or as Shere Kahn in The Jungle Book, the actor voiced one of the video game franchise’s most intriguing antiheroes. Portraying the misunderstood Knuckles The Echidna, he played the second antagonist in Sonic The Hedgehog 2 alongside Jim Carrey’s “big bad” Dr. Robotnik.

In taking the roles, Elba managed to bring not only a degree of almost Shakespearean loss to the animated character but also played the somewhat egotistical, hubris-laden animal with such humour that once again he proved to be the fantastic comedic foil to the ensemble voice cast around him.

Beast (2022)

Setting foot outside the recording booth and in front of the camera once again, Elba was cast in Baltasar Kormákur’s survival horror Beast. The film revolved around a widowed father (Elba) and his two teenage daughters who visit a South African game reserve but must fight to survive when they are stalked and attacked by a ferocious, rogue, man-killing lion.

The film managed to make a profit at the box office, even though reviews for the film were middling but more leaning towards the positive aspects of the film rather than the negative aspects. Rotten Tomatoes in their consensus review state that Beast’s success is the “film’s eye-catching, ear-grabbing hocus pocus [that] can be traced back to smart direction, near seamless visual/sound effects, tight editing and the supremely talented Idris Elba”

Three Thousand Years of Longing (2022)

Three Thousand Years of Longing taught film studios a valuable lesson; you could have a stellar lead cast including Tilda Swinton and Idris Elba, helmed by a visionary such as George Miller (Mad Max: Fury Road, Babe: Big In The City) and have an interesting story that critics generally enjoyed. But if marketing is scant and no one really knows about it, then chances are they won’t go to the cinema for it.

To be fair to the film, it had stiff opposition during its cinematic release - with Top Gun: Maverick, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Elvis still being screened in cinemas across August. Variety went on to call the film one of the biggest flops of 2022, earning $20 million USD at the box office against its $60 million USD budget.

Still - there are always streaming services for the film to make up that margin, and much like his role opposite Matthew McConaughey in 2017’s The Dark Tower, will no doubt find a devout audience reluctant to go to the cinema.