Fresh off last year's film follow-up to Luther, Luther: The Fallen Sun, writer Neil Cross has now created a new Sky thriller series, Iris.
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The eight-part series will star Niamh Algar (Mary & George) and Tom Hollander (The White Lotus), with Algar playing a puzzle addict, Iris Nixon, who works a mundane job by day flagging harmful content for a social media platform, but by night she searches through internet forums solving riddles.
When she finds a thread online seeking highly intelligent individuals to crack a secretive code, she meets Hollander's charming philanthropist, Cameron McIntyre, who has his hands on a dangerously powerful, world-changing piece of technology.
Suspicious of his motives, Iris steals the code and reinvents herself as Ms Brooks, tutoring the daughter of a wealthy family on the Sardinian coast. But Cameron's net starts to close in, and they end up in a deadly game of hide and seek.
Neil Cross. Karwai Tang/WireImage
Writer, creator and showrunner Cross said: "All I wanted to do was to make a show I wanted to watch. Iris is an unapologetically exciting, witty, chase-driven adventure show and features a lead character the like of which I don't think we've ever met before on TV.
"With Niamh Algar and Tom Hollander bringing these complex characters to life, coupled with Terry McDonough's direction, I couldn't be more excited to share this world and these characters."
The series will start filming this month in Sardinia, Italy, with other cast members including Sacha Dhawan (Doctor Who), Meréana Tomlinson (The Trials), Maya Sansa (Good Morning Night), Peter Sullivan (The Sixth Commandment) and Debi Mazar (Younger).
Luther star Idris Elba recently said that he still hopes to return to the character in a sequel film to The Fallen Sun, telling Radio Times magazine: "The coat is still waiting, yeah.
"Luther is my legacy project. It's the character I've played the longest in my life; there are definitely still things I want him to do."
James Hibbs is a Drama Writer for Radio Times, covering programmes across both streaming platforms and linear channels. He previously worked in PR, first for a B2B agency and subsequently for international TV production company Fremantle. He possesses a BA in English and Theatre Studies and an NCTJ Level 5 Diploma in Journalism.
