Watch the New Trailer for Rudra: The Edge of Darkness, Out March 4

Rudra: The Edge of Darkness trailer and release date is here — the show is out March 4. On Monday as promised, Disney+ Hotstar unveiled a second trailer for its next Hotstar Specials original series led by Ajay Devgn. He plays DCP Rudraveer Singh who has solved the most cases for SCU — we’re never told what it is, but I’m guessing Special Crimes Unit? — in the past, before he returns to confront new problems. His marriage is falling apart, his wife (Esha Deol) is seeing someone else. Rudra is chasing a villain who has a particular dislike for the police. And in his greatest challenge yet, he’s confronted by the mysterious Aliyah (Raashii Khanna) who wonders how Rudra catches the criminals who don’t slip up.

If some of that sounded eerily similar to you, that’s because Rudra: The Edge of Darkness is an official remake of the Idris Elba-led British crime drama series Luther — which ran for five short seasons on BBC One and is set to get a movie follow-up likely in 2022 — that has also been adapted in France, Russia, and South Korea previously. (An American version with Mahershala Ali and Rosario Dawson was in the works, but never materialised.) The Rudra: The Edge of Darkness trailer isn’t quite promising though, with Devgn spouting generic dialogues and unable to channel Elba’s grittiness. And Khanna is nowhere close to Ruth Wilson’s charismatic performance from Luther.

In addition to Devgn as DCP Rudraveer Singh, Khanna as Aliyah, and Deol as Mrs. Singh, Rudra: The Edge of Darkness also stars Atul Kulkarni as Singh’s cop colleague. Ashwini Kalsekar, Ashish Vidyarthi, Milind Gunaji, and Luke Kenny have undisclosed roles. Rajesh Mapuskar — best known for the 2016 National Award-winning Marathi-language comedy-drama movie Ventilator — directs all episodes of the new Hotstar Specials series. Jay Sheela Bansal (Poison on Zee5) is the writer. Rudra: The Edge of Darkness is a production of Applause Entertainment and BBC Studios India, with BBC India’s Sameer Nair and Applause content chief Deepak Segal among the producers.

For Disney+ Hotstar, Rudra: The Edge of Darkness will be the third Hotstar Specials original series in 2022, following the Shefali Shah and Kirti Kulhari-led thriller Human in January, and the ‘murder mystery’ drama The Great Indian Murder earlier in February, whose ensemble consisted of Richa Chadha, Pratik Gandhi, Ashutosh Rana, Raghubir Yadav, Sharib Hashmi, and Shashank Arora. Devgn, incidentally, was among the producers on The Great Indian Murder.

Rudra: The Edge of Darkness is out March 4 on Disney+ Hotstar in India and elsewhere, and Hulu in the US.