Idris Elba previews new 'Luther' special

LONDON, Nov. 5 (UPI) -- Idris Elba has revealed the first details about the new Luther special.

The 43-year-old British actor and BBC America previewed the three-hour, one-night episode in a press release Thursday. The special will air Dec. 17 at 9 p.m. ET.

The episode will see Det. John Luther (Elba) abandon his seclusion to pursue the cannibalistic serial killer Steven Rose (John Heffernan). The sadistic killer "pushes [Luther] closer to the edge than he's ever been" and returns him to the "dark recesses of his mind."

"I think there were bigger challenges when he lost his wife and best friend," Elba opined. "That was a huge pinnacle and something that it took him a long time to get over. And in this [special] there is something similar that happens to him that is definitely traumatic."

"I think Luther goes back just because he can't stay away from it for too long," he said of the character's compulsion to help. "Ultimately, because he's a protector, and he just wants to be able to fix what he can see other people won't be able to."

Dermot Crowley and Michael Smiley will return as Det. Martin Schenk and Benny Silver, respectively, with Rose Leslie as Det. Emma Lane, Darren Boyd as Det. Theo Bloom, Laura Haddock as a woman from Luther's past and Patrick Malahide as a gangster.

Luther debuted on the BBC in 2010, and concluded a third season in 2013. Elba is also known for playing Russell "Stringer" Bell on HBO series The Wire and Heimdall in the Marvel cinematic universe, and will star in Star Trek Beyond with Chris Pine.