A new two-part Luther special is underway, no doubt boasting all the growly detective work we’ve come to expect and love from everyone’s favourite bellowing London copper. What it won’t have, according to The Wrap’s scoop, is Ruth Wilson’s whipsmart sociopath to provide a menacing yin to the big man’s righteous yang. Instead, Game Of Thrones’ flinty Ygritte, Rose Leslie, has signed on for the show’s return, alongside The Inbetweeners Movie’s Laura Haddock.
Leslie will play a new character called Emma Jones, although whether she’ll be filling the psycho gap remains to be. Wilson’s Alice Morgan was one of the best things in Luther’s previous three seasons, simultaneously sinister and alluring and occasionally even outmatching the careworn copper with a cool intellect that was always calculating, always running the numbers. Like an old-fashioned femme fatale or a flirtier Moriarty, she offered a chemistry the show’s creator Neil Cross will be looking to replicate.
The two-parter sees Luther looking for payback against his most deadly adversary to date. Says executive producer Elizabeth Kilgarriff: “Neil Cross has pulled out all the stops to make this the biggest, scariest story.”
Joining Leslie and Haddock are Michael Smiley and Dermot Crowley, returning to their roles as police hacker Benny ‘Deadhead’ Silver and DSU Martin Schenk respectively. Expect to be dusting off your best “LOOOOFAH!” later this year.