Idris Elba Strikes First-Look Deal With Apple

Luther star Idris Elba will produce series and films for Apple TV+ after striking a first-look deal with the streaming service.

The actor and producer will produce global series and features for the service via his Green Door Pictures production company.

Elba, who broke through as Stringer Bell in The Wire, has been ramping up his production activities in recent years. He recently completed production on Ricky Staub’s Concrete Cowboy, for which he and Green Door serve as executive producers, and produced comedy In The Long Run, which he created and stars in, for Sky as well as Elba vs Block for Quibi.

Green Door and Elba also produced, in association with Brown Eyed Boy, DJ comedy Turn Up Charlie, which was recently canceled at Netflix.

Recent on-screen turns include Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, Avengers: Infinity War and Molly’s Game and he will be in Suicide Squad 2. He recently made news that his long-running cop drama Luther, produced for the BBC, is eyeing a feature return.

Interestingly, the woman who originally commissioned Luther at the BBC, Jay Hunt, is now Apple’s European content chief.

It is the latest first-look and overall deal for the service, which is led by heads of worldwide video Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht, following deals with Oprah Winfrey, Alfonso Cuarón, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Justin Lin, Simon Kinberg and Sharon Horgan among others.

Elba founded Green Door Pictures in 2013 with the aim of developing new and established talent to champion inclusion, representation and diversity

He is repped by WME, The Artists Partnership and Ziffren Brittenham LLP.