The creator of “Luther” changed the gender of the movie victim at the request of Netflix

The sequel to “Luther,” “The Fallen Sun,” begins like many episodes of the Idris Elba detective drama: someone is murdered. In the case of the film, Callum Aldrich (James Bamford) is the victim, who is kidnapped and killed by wealthy serial killer David Robey (Andy Serkis). But the first draft of the film had Callum as a woman before Neil Cross rewrote it – at Netflix’s request.

Cross revealed the change in a recent interview The independent. The writer, who created the original series and wrote every episode in addition to the script for “Fallen Sun,” said the first victim in the original script was a woman in part because he thought violence against women was “scarier” for viewers.

“For reasons that I’m afraid of probing too deeply, female victims resonate more deeply and scare me,” Cross told The Independent. “So, there was a defiant part of me in the first draft of this that was like, ‘Fuck, the victim’s going to be a woman, because that’s even scarier.’

According to Cross, Netflix encouraged her to change the victim’s gender in the one important note the streamer gave her in her script. Although he was initially hesitant, he later said it was the right decision.

“That was the moment when Netflix said, ‘Do you want to think about this a little bit?’ Cross said. “And I said, ‘Well, that’s going to be less scary. I was worried about how it could be. But they were actually right.”

Cross went on to explain that the original series received extensive criticism for depicting violence against women. While she said it’s understandable that people are uncomfortable, she defended herself by saying that they are more male victims of the show than men.

“We’ve mentioned before that people are uncomfortable with Luther’s victimization of women — not unfairly,” she said. “However, the strange thing is that if one counts, there are many, many more male victims in Luther than female.”

Cross also talked about series lead Elba becoming the next James Bond, a fan casting that has grown in popularity over the years, despite the “Wire” star saying that playing Ian Fleming’s secret agent is “not a goal for me. career.”

“It’s not a stretch to express the idea that Idris is one of the most charismatic actors on the planet right now,” Cross said. “And I don’t think there’s a role he can’t play, so I think he’d be an exceptional Bond. But I prefer Luther.”

“Luther: The Fallen Sun” is currently streaming on Netflix.

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