Luther: The Fallen Sun Ending Explained - So, Now What For Idris Elba's Detective?

At the beginning of The Fallen Sun, we discover that Luther had been investigating the disappearance of a young man who’d been abducted by David Robey during or just before the events of Series 5. At the crime scene, a disguised Robey clocks Luther’s handling of the case and, attempting to get the detective off his trail, tells his cronies: “I want his shame.” We then see the media circus of Luther’s trial, with one reporter saying that a dossier showing “a litany of vigilante activity” had been leaked to the press.

So, while Robey wasn’t behind Luther’s initial arrest, we can assume that his vindictive role in exposing all of Luther’s past misdeeds shone a light on a trial that the Met would have rather kept quiet – and made Luther’s subsequent sentencing a certainty.

It seems Robey had been watching too much Black Mirror, or Hostel, or both. He had built a “Red Bunker” under the snowy wilds of Norway, hidden from the outside world, where he would broadcast live “shows” to high-paying subscribers on the dark web. Aided by a small army of henchmen, these shows involved livestreaming the torture and murder of his victims – all of whom had been lured under threat of exposing their hidden transgressions, or “shame”.

Luther and DCI Odette Raine (Cynthia Erivo), who’s now heading up his former unit, track down Robey’s hidden house of horrors thanks to information from his long-suffering wife. They are forced to surrender, though, when Robey threatens to kill Odette’s kidnapped daughter, Anya (Lauryn Ajufo). The pair are taken to the Red Bunker where, in front of the online audience, Odette is forced to stab Luther; the tables are then turned, and Luther is told to smash Odette’s kneecap with a hammer.

Before he does, Luther taunts Robey, brilliantly dubbing him a “sweaty anxious twat” in the way that only Elba can and telling him that his own shame has been brought to light. He spooks the viewers by revealing that their IP addresses are being tracked and that the police are on their way to the bunker, before taking out one of the henchmen with the hammer. Robey scarpers – initiating an incineration sequence.

Odette rescues Anya and manages to escape the burning bunker, while Luther gives chase. His pursuit ends when Robey’s 4×4 crashes and sends the two men into a frozen lake outside; Robey drowns in the icy water, surrounded by the bodies of his previous victims, while Luther is rescued by police divers, who’ve thankfully turned up just in time.