We still don’t have a date as to when season 3 of Luther will debut, but we assumed that it would happen sometime later this year, given that principal photography ended in mid-February, and post-production has since begun.

The BBC hasn’t made any official announcements yet, but the star of the series, Idris Elba, revealed in an interview with the UK’s Guardian, that season 3 will debut in September. 

He doesn’t give an exact date, just that it’ll return this September, so that gives us something to work with.

And like last season, I assume the BBC will make the episodes of next season available here in the USA within 24 hours or so after they air in the UK. That seems to be the trend, with other UK series that have USA followings, making episodes available to USA audiences soon after they are broadcast on UK TV – like Misfits did last year.

Last we spoke of Luther was in January, when it was hinted that Alice might be returning for season 3.

Leading up to that post, for much of last year, we’d been led to believe by show creator Neil Cross that we shouldn’t expect the Alice Morgan storyline to return in any sort of way this season. Both he and star Idris Elba emphasized that they were trying to set things up for the “bigger picture,” saying that there’s a possibility that Alice’s storyline will come back when the Luther feature film is made. But don’t expect to see much of her in season 3, if at all.

Instead of Alice (as some of you would’ve liked), Luther will instead match wits, as well as be romanced by a new character played by Sienna Guillory.

That little detail there was met with some sadness among fans of the series, who’d grown to love Alice and her deliciously maniacal ways, as well as her interactions with Luther.

And also Neil Cross later revealed that Alice may be getting her very own spin-off project, saying that he was in talks with the BBC to create a spin-off for the infamous character played wonderfully by actress Ruth Wilson.

And as for whether Luther might occassional find himself in Alice’s spin-off series, Cross said, “I think the first one would probably be a Luther-free zone, because their stories have diverged to a large extent, but there would be nothing to suggest they couldn’t come together again — either by this vehicle or a ‘Luther’ movie.” 

We’ll find out eventually. It may just be a quick cameo or brief appearance in one episode or something like that; maybe she appears in the final episode of the upcoming Luther season, as the audience is left with some kind of a cliffhanger, which will set things up for the movie.

But mark the month of September on your calendars for now, until we get an official exact date.

Warren Brown, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Dermot Crowley and Michael Smiley all return to assume the roles they each played last season.

Next season guest stars will include Orlessa Altass, Lucian Msamati (Game Of Thrones fans will remember him as the pirate Salladhor Saan; he and Nonso Anozie were the 2 black Brits who joined the series cast last season), and Ned Dennehy (Tyrannosaur).

You can read the full Guardian interview HERE, in which he also talks about his upcoming Nelson Mandela film.