Editor’s note: The below contains spoilers for the ending of Luther: The Fallen Sun.
Idris Elba‘s Luther: The Fallen Sun is showing some real staying power in Netflix’s Top 10 movie chart. The Neil Cross-created, Jamie Payne-directed psychological thriller (and continuation of the immensely popular show that aired from 2010 to 2019) sees the brilliant London DCI John Luther on the hunt for a deranged cyber-terrorist and serial killer. It’s revealed that David Robey (Andy Serkis), the film’s main antagonist, was the one who managed to get Luther put in prison by unearthing some of the detective’s questionable past arrests; personal vendetta aside, Robey has taken to targeting random British citizens and threatening to expose their deepest and darkest secrets in order to blackmail them.
With Luther behind bars, Robey is now free to wreak unchecked havoc in the streets of London. If Luther doesn’t get out of prison, then the psychopathic Robey will be free to continue terrorizing citizens as part of a larger plan to orchestrate a “Red Room,” or kill room, online whereby he will broadcast a series of barbaric acts and murders from a hidden location to millions of twisted onlookers who get off on the sadistic tactics he uses on his victims. Luther: The Fallen Sun is a disturbing but thrilling two-hour ride that rarely stops to come up for air, and Cross has clearly set things up for yet another chapter with an ending that has “sequel” written all over it.
Luther Chases a Serial Killer Across London
After Luther orchestrates his escape from Turfsmoor Prison, he immediately goes on the hunt for Robey, who he believes is responsible for the death of a young man named Callum Aldrich. The problem is that he is also a wanted man and a fugitive from justice who is being targeted by local police to be hauled in and returned to jail. So while Luther is tracking down Robey, DCU Odette Raines (Cynthia Erivo) has her best people trying to get a visual on the elusive former detective who is trying to stay free long enough to nab his nemesis.
After the horrific Robey carries out a coordinated suicide event at Piccadilly Circus, and a long chase scene where Luther almost catches up to him, the psychopath ups the ante by kidnapping Raines’ teenage daughter, Anya (Lauryn Ajufo), taking her to his hidden bunker as the most recent addition to the demented lunatic’s “Red Room.” This forces Raines to reconsider her plan to have Luther arrested as he is the only one who seems to be able to make any headway on catching Robey. She makes the decision to delay detaining Luther and decides to work with him desperate to find her daughter before she becomes another victim.
A Showdown in Robey’s “Red Room”
Now working together as a unit, Luther and Raines are able to get information from Robey’s ex-wife and past victim Georgette (Tara Fitzgerald) on where Robey is planning on conducting his online execution show, which leads them to a remote bunker in a desolate, isolated area of Norway that has nothing but mountains, snow, and ice for miles. They come across several bodies under a frozen lake which lets them know that they are on the right track and very close to the madman’s hideout. Upon arriving, the two encounter a grisly scene of bodies hanging from the vaulted ceiling of a house.
Initially, Raines believes that one of the hooded bodies is that of her daughter; upon closer examination, she is relieved to find out that it is not Anya, but a similar-looking young woman. Raines, however, is caught unaware and immediately blindsided and taken hostage while Luther explores a labyrinth of underground hallways only to also get cold-cocked with a crowbar by Robey’s henchman. He comes to in a small amphitheater-like room strapped to a chair and is subsequently tortured by a gleeful Robey. The killer is grandstanding like a game show host and performing painful torture techniques on Luther while a gallery of online viewers gets a sick vicarious thrill from his pain.
The Final Scene Leaves the Door Wide Open for More
After escaping Robey’s kill room, Luther is able to catch up with Robey just as he is beginning to drive away into the snowy Norwegian wilderness. He overpowers the serial killer and the two struggle for control of the car before they crash and break through the ice. The car begins to sink and both begin the struggle to make it back to the surface. It initially appears as if Robey will be the only survivor as Luther hits a snag getting out of the sinking car, but, as Robey ascends, he is met with a sheet of ice that he cannot break through and drowns. Luther, injuries and all, is his typical badass self and makes his way out of the frozen lake whereby he is met by the arriving medical team and thanked by Raines. She and her daughter barely escape the “Red Room” after it is engulfed in flames.
With his name cleared and no longer a wanted man, Luther is care flighted to a government safe house to convalesce from his wounds. In the film’s final sequence, Luther is greeted by his old friend and former boss DSU Martin Schenk (Dermot Crowley). A caravan of shiny, black SUVs and limousines pull into the driveway of the palatial safe house, carrying some government VIPs. Luther is hesitant as he meets with a man who invites him to have a word with a character referred to as “The Chief,” but he slowly obliges and gets into the car.
If we’re reading the tea leaves correctly here, “The Chief” is the head of MI5 and is going to bring on Luther to begin a new chapter of the franchise, with the formerly disgraced detective working for the clandestine British agency as an operative. In fact, the title of the movie itself, Luther: The Fallen Sun, could have an alternative meaning of his career as a DCI in London coming to an end, with something new arising in its place. If there is a planned sequel in the works, here’s to watching Idris Elba as Luther take on the world of black ops in the next installment of the series.
Luther: The Fallen Sun is now available to stream on Netflix.