Where Was ‘Luther: The Fallen Sun’ Filmed? Real Life Locations Featured in the Film

Luther fans have had it rough. The critically acclaimed BBC One thriller has taken its time to finish since it first premiered in 2010. But after a four-year-long hiatus, the series returns with a big-budget continuation.

Idris Elba stars as Detective Chief Inspector John Luther, a relentless detective who stops at nothing to solve a series of dark crimes across London. Luther: The Fallen Sun will see the character make his silver screen debut opposite co-stars Cynthia Erivo and Andy Serkis. In this continuation, Luther must break out of prison to hunt down a serial killer (played by Serkis) while outrunning the detective on his trail (Erivo). 

Elba has maintained over the years that he wanted Luther to return as a movie rather than another TV season.

“With a film, the sky is the limit. Obviously, you can be a little bit more bold in the storylines, maybe international, a little bit sort of up the scale,” he said in 2020. “But John Luther is always going to be John Luther.”

Luther: The Fallen Sun will take the show to new heights thanks to its new budget. A bigger budget means more opportunities for filming, though Elba says he wanted to make sure the show’s tone carried on through the movie.

“It’s really dangerous when expanding from television to film to throw a lot of money at it, and for that moment to change the characteristics of the show,” he told Empire in October 2022. “I wanted to make sure that even though we had a bigger budget, [we didn’t] distort the parameters of Luther-land too much.” 

Though the original series was mainly filmed across London, Elba said that they got to “break out of the gritty streets of London” for the movie. “It feels like now we’re entering a different life of the Luther experience.”

While Luther definitely won’t be taking a vacation any time soon, it sounds like we will finally get to see the detective on new stomping grounds in this upcoming movie. So, if they’re not in London anymore, where was Luther filmed? Here’s what we know.

WHERE IS LUTHER: THE FALLEN SUN FILMED?

In November 2021, the lead actor announced filming began in a tweet that showed the detective’s signature wool overcoat.

“Oi… I’m back!” he wrote. 

Oi……I’m back! pic.twitter.com/wOxHBwnbxo

— Idris Elba (@idriselba) November 10, 2021

The actor was spotted filming in London’s Soho soon after with Erivo. Other London landmarks seen in the film include Piccadilly Circus and Chinatown. Another interesting London location featured in the film is Aldwych Tube Station, an abandoned train station where many other productions have been filmed. 

Luther: The Fallen Sun picks up in prison after Luther gets arrested for the death of his lover Alice (Ruth Wilson). The prison, where Elba says a “messy and visceral” fight scene occurs, is located at the HM Dorchester Prison in Dorset.

Production also reportedly spent four weeks at the Lites Studio in Belgium shooting water scenes in early 2022. The studio has a 1,450 square meter water stage that includes features like water FX, cannons and waves. 

However, it appears that the scenes filmed in Iceland will play a big role in the movie. Stills from the film released in November show Elba trudging through the snow as his overcoat billows in the wind. His co-star Erivo mentioned in a recent interview that filming there was “freezing” and “thrilling.” 

“We were there! That’s where we were; that was not a CGI place,” she said. 

She continued, “There were times we had to try and shoot for it to look like it wasn’t snowing, and it absolutely was. We went through it.”

And we get to see it all for ourselves when Luther: The Fallen Sun premieres on Netflix Friday, March 10.