Fans of Idris Elba’s thrilling crime drama “Luther” will always have the same question going into every new installment: will Alice Morgan return? The iconic narcissistic and psychopathic murderer (played by Ruth Wilson) comes in and out of Luther’s life in a havoc-wreaking game of cat and mouse throughout the show’s five seasons. Although the murderous genius constantly challenges Luther’s altruistic worldview with her nihilistic one, the detective can’t deny his underlying feelings for her.
Alice seemingly fell to her death in season five, but her body disappeared, leaving fans to wonder if she’s actually dead and whether or not she would appear in future installments of “Luther.” Well, “Luther: The Fallen Sun” premiered on Netflix on March 10, answering whether our favorite detective’s antagonist lover would return from the dead once again. Here’s the deal.
What Happened to Alice Morgan in “Luther” Season 5?
After faking her death off screen at the start of season four, Alice returns in typical, mysterious fashion to aid (and hinder) Luther at the start of season five. The toxic duo have a falling out over their conflicting goals when Luther makes a deal with gangster George Cornelius to save Alice and his friend Mark behind her back. This sends Alice into a maniacal, jealous rage, leading her to shoot and kill Luther’s new partner, Halliday, and nonfatally shoot Luther. As the two tussle, Alice falls off the edge of the building’s scaffolding, and despite Luther’s efforts to save her, she refuses his help and falls to her apparent death. Her body disappears, however, leaving fans to wonder if she’d faked her death again.
Is Alice Morgan in “Luther: The Fallen Sun”?
“Luther: The Fallen Sun” finds Luther in prison after his history of thwarting procedure to fight crime catches up with him. Considering Luther and Alice had a history of helping each other out of sticky situations, this would have been the perfect opportunity to work Alice back into the story: having her reemerge from another faked death and aid Luther in his break out of prison to stop the movie’s antagonist, murderer David Robey. However, that doesn’t happen. In fact, Alice is never even mentioned in the movie.
Is Alice Morgan Dead in “Luther”?
Although it’s hard to imagine Alice surviving her fall at the end of season five, it’s also hard to imagine she’s truly dead. According to the show’s creator, Neil Cross, Alice is very much still alive, and he sees a road to her returning to Luther’s story.
“As far as I’m concerned, there isn’t a world where Ruth Wilson ever went away,” Cross said in a March 10 interview with Newsweek to promote “Luther: The Fallen Sun.” “Just because she’s not in this particular film doesn’t mean that she’s not there in the broader universe. Alice is a very real person to me, and I wouldn’t want to live in a world without her.”
Continuing, he explained that Alice Morgan is too compelling of a character to leave behind. “I would love to turn the tables at some point on a conversation like this because Alice sprung from some moist part of the back of my brain fully formed, in a slightly folkloric way,” he said. “I didn’t make her up, it felt like she already existed. But, she is not a good person, and it interests me that people respond to her and like her, and – here’s the troubling bit – identify with her so profoundly. It’s an interesting thing, and when you’ve got a dynamic with the audience, a kind of conversation between character and audience which is that rich, we’d be fools not to want to explore that again. It’s fun.”
