The filmmakers have explained why the Luther film on Netflix is called ‘The Fallen Sun’

I’m not sure if you’ve had to endure the Netflix long episode of Luther masquerading as a film yet, but if you have I’m sure you came to the same conclusion I did which is, “what a load of nonsensical shite that was.” If the events of the film weren’t confusing enough, I spent the whole film thinking “Okay, but why is this called The Fallen Sun?” No, you didn’t blink and miss it – the title’s origin is never discussed, mentioned or referred to in the film – so why the hell is its name Luther: The Fallen Sun?

Thankfully, writer Neil Cross and director Jamie Payne spoke to Radio Times about the origins. Or maybe the word is sadly, because it is, as expected, a word salad explanation of nothingness.

‘The Fallen Sun’

Those watching the film expecting the villain to have nefarious plans for harnessing the Sun or for it to be a play on words and be all to do with a son going rogue and betraying his mother will find a film doing something completely different. So why the hell is the name of this film Luther: The Fallen Sun?

Neil Cross said that naming the film was the “hardest part of the entire process.” He went on to explain (if you can call it that)

“It’s so terribly, terribly easy to roll over and give something a generic name. It seems fine in the moment, but you go on to regret it for the rest of your born days. So we had to find a title that belonged to Luther-land as we’d already established it, which sounded like it’s an extension of the existing lore and universe, which in some way also teased the nature of the story within. You can imagine it as a book cover, it kind of teases at least the spirit of the events of the narrative.

“But the brave global world, this thing is released simultaneously all over the world. So it had to be somehow a title which both captured the essence of the lore, of the moment, of this particular story, which could also easily be translated into every [language]. So it was not an easy process.”

Jamie Payne denounced responsibility, saying “Oh my god, I have to say, I’m glad that that didn’t fall on my shoulders. Because you can only imagine how many titles we got through. There was a generating machine that went on for weeks.”

Cross then said: “Oh, I have to say, I lost my mind. And I was doing that kind of William Burroughs thing where I was just drawing up words which in some way felt Luther-ish. And moving them around and going through lists of songs and then calling both of my sons saying, ‘Is there a song I’ve never heard of that says Luther to you?’

“There were a couple of song titles but I can’t remember what they were. Paradise Circus was one of the things which we considered, which is the name of the theme song. I still think that’s a good title. The Calling, which is the name of the book [was another].”

So all in all, the title is meaningless. Great! The magic of cinema.

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