Idris Elba reveals start date for upcoming ‘Luther’ movie

"I’m so excited about it, it’s been a long time coming."

May 24, 2021

If you’ve been patiently waiting for updates on Idris Elba‘s new Luther movie, have we got good news for you!

According to a report by Variety, Elba has recently revealed the long-awaited film adaptation of his uber-popular BBC series “Luther” is set to start production later this year.

While speaking to the publication on Friday, the actor who will also be executive producing the project confirmed, “We go into production, fingers crossed, in September. I’m so excited about it, it’s been a long time coming.”

“We’re very, very close to pulling the green light on production,” he added.

In the series, Elba plays John Luther, a detective chief inspector working for the Serious Crime Unit of the U.K. police, who often puts his job ahead of his tumultuous personal life.

Idris Elba thegrio.com — Director Idris Elba poses for a portrait to promote the film “Yardie” at the Music Lodge during the Sundance Film Festival on Sunday, Jan. 21, 2018, in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Taylor Jewell/Invision/AP)

While audiences have been incredibly loyal to the show both in the U.K. and the U.S., in April, the series made headlines after BBC diversity manager Miranda Wayland made controversial statements implying Luther’s character didn’t feel authentic as a Black protagonist.

When it first came out everybody loved the fact that Idris Elba was in there — a really strong, Black character lead. We all fell in love with him. Who didn’t, right? But after you got into about the second series you got kind of, like, okay, he doesn’t have any Black friends, he doesn’t eat any Caribbean food, this doesn’t feel authentic,” Wayland opined while speaking at digital MIPTV.

Wayland praised television for having “those big landmark shows with those key characters” but noted that it was still important to ensure that the “environment” and the “culture” of Black characters is “absolutely reflective” of the communities they represent.

She went on to elaborate, “It will be very much about how can we make sure that this program is authentic in terms of the storytelling.”

According to the Evening Standard, Elba seemingly weighed in on the debate sparked on social media by Wayland’s comments and posted a quote in his Instagram story, stating, “We must not pull ourselves backwards, only push ourselves forwards.”

The BBC also formally clapped back by telling the Independent: “Luther is a multi-award winning crime drama series and the iconic role of DCI John Luther has become one of TV’s most powerful detective characters of which we are tremendously proud. The BBC is committed to its continued investment in diversity and recent BBC One dramasI May Destroy You and Small Axe are testament to that. Of course people can have open discussions about our shows but that doesn’t mean it’s a statement of policy.”

It remains to be seen if any of the critiques about the protagonist in the series needing a more authentically Black narrative will be addressed into the upcoming film adaptation. But “Luther” is currently set up as a 20th Century Fox Television, BBC Worldwide Productions and Chernin Entertainment production.

In addition to Elba, Peter Chernin, Julie Gardner, Katherine Pope and Jane Tranter have also come on board as executive producers.

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