No plans for another Luther series but movie adaptation "close", says Idris Elba

Speaking at a Q&A Zoom event for his Sky comedy The Long Run, Elba responded to a question about Luther's future with: "There isn't a real formal plan for Luther at the moment."

However, he added that he's pushing for a movie about the dedicated DCI. "I've made it very clear that I'd like to see Luther come back as a film. And I can tell you this, that we are this close to making a film of Luther."

The BBC series, which launched in 2010, has run for five seasons so far, with Luther's last appearance on our screens in January 2019 after a four year gap. The four-part run left viewers on a cliff-hanger, leaving plot points for potential exploration in a film follow-up.

In the series, Elba stars alongside Ruth Wilson, who plays the psychopathic Alice Morgan, Dermot Crowley as DSU Martin Schenk and Michael Smiley as DS Benny Silver. Series five saw the introduction of DS Catherine Halliday (Wunmi Mosaku) to the squad.

Elba, who has appeared in Thor, Beasts of No Nation and The Jungle Book, spoke about a potential Luther film back in 2018, telling the Metro: "Luther has all the ingredients to echo those classic films of the '90s like Seven and Along Came A Spider and I think what we'd like to attempt is use that as a blueprint to create it."

"It will be more murder, more Volvos, more frowning Luther. Essentially we just want to try and take it to a much bigger remit and scale and perhaps international as well," he added.

The Emmy-nominated actor currently stars as Walter in In The Long Run – a semi-autobiographical comedy which follows an immigrant family in 1980's Hackney.

Series three of In The Long Run launches on Sky One on Wednesday 22nd July. All five series of Luther are available to stream on BBC iPlayer. Check out what else is on with our TV Guide.