Idris Elba will revive DCI John Luther in a fifth season of the award-winning crime drama Luther, BBC America announced Monday.
Fans who have waited since 2015 for more “Luther” have to wait a bit longer. The four-episode limited series won’t begin filming until early 2018 based on scripts from series creator Neil Cross.
BBC America did not provide air dates, names of co-stars, plot points or other details, but Elba did comment.
“Neil, the BBC and I have been talking about a further season and I am thrilled that we have been able to bring it all together,” Elba said in a press release. “I look forward to putting the coat back on.”
The role earned Elba a Golden Globe award, a screen Actors Guild award, an NAACP Image Award and a Critics’ Choice Award.
Cross, who has written all the episodes of the previous four seasons, had a lot more to say.
“Now what? It’s a question Idris and I get asked a lot,” he said in the release. “What happened to John Luther after we last saw him striding unbowed through the streets of his city, his blood red London? It can’t be over, can it? There’s so much we don’t know. So much unfinished business.
The thing is, we’ve been asking ourselves the same question. Because we love John and wonder what he’s up to. And as for me, I’m scared of the monsters. The face at the window. The hand under the bed. The shadow at the end of the street. Who’s going to stop them, if not John Luther?
In the end, we picked up the phone to some old friends and asked if they’d like to find out what happens next. It turns out, they would. So that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to find out what happens next.
Now what? Luther’s coming back. That’s what.”
Piers Wenger and Charlotte Moore commissioned “Luther.” BBC Studios, the BBC’s commercial production arm, is producing, BBC America is co-producing. Elba and Cross serves as executive producers. Marcus Wilson and Hilary Salmon for BBC Studios, and Elizabeth Kilgarriff for the BBC also serve as executive producers.
“Luther” has earned a total of 11 Emmy nominations.