Cynthia Erivo to star alongside Idris Elba in ‘Luther’ feature film
The multi-award winning international hit crime series Luther for the BBC will continue as a Netflix feature film at Netflix.
Grammy, Tony, Emmy Winner and Two-time Academy Award Nominee Cynthia Erivo (Harriet) and Emmy Award Nominee Andy Serkis (The Lord of the Rings trilogy) will star alongside Golden Globe Nominee Idris Elba in the titular role.
Erivo, who most recently played Aretha Franklin the NatGeo series Genius: Aretha, also recently released her video for “The Good,” depicting a Black queer female couple played by Erivo and Suriya. Previously, Erivo, 34, rose to fame playing Celie in The Color Purple on Broadway.
“I wanted to normalize seeing Black women in a relationship on screen, because often it’s really fetishistic,” Erivo said in a statement, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“In storytelling, chapter one and verse one is the way you always begin, and because I believe I’m a storyteller, that’s what I wanted to do with my music,” she added. “That’s what this is about, just starting [and revealing] the human parts of me that you don’t often get to see.”
In an interview with The Advocate, Erivo said, “It’s unbelievably important to keep telling stories that give space and solace to LGBTQ+ members, Black members of our society, of our communities, because there isn’t enough, there’s not enough space,” Erivo says. “I think the more we can see it, the more we get to understand that we deserve space too. And we have to be seen so that we can make great things, that we can create great art, and that our experiences are valid too.”
Luther will be directed for Netflix by Emmy Award Nominee Jamie Payne and written by Emmy Award Nominee Neil Cross (Mosquito Coast) the film will be produced in association with the BBC and aim to be an epic continuation of the Luther saga reimagined for film.
The series which premiered in 2010 has completed five seasons on the BBC. Elba has won two Golden Globes and a Royal Television Society best actor award for his performance in the titular role.
