All eyes are on Idris Elba after his appearances as Bloodsport in DC's The Suicide Squad and the iconic Knuckles in Sonic The Hedgehog 2, and he has projects lined up for the near future, including more Sonic projects. Here’s every upcoming movie Idris Elba will appear in. Idris Elba’s acting career began in 1994 with minor roles in TV shows like 2point4 Children, Space Precinct, and The Bill, which were followed by more TV projects before he could make the jump to the big screen, which happened in 1999 on the French comedy movie Belle maman. Elba’s first major role on TV arrived in 2002 when he played Russell “Stringer” Bell in The Wire, and he continued working on TV while also pursuing a career in film.

His first major role in a movie arrived in 2007 in Tyler Perry’s rom-com Daddy’s Little Girls, where he shared the spotlight with Gabrielle Union. Although it wasn’t well-received by critics and viewers, Daddy’s Little Girls opened many doors for Elba in the film industry, and he went on to appear in 28 Weeks Later, American Gangster, Prom Night, and Guy Ritchie’s RocknRolla. Back in the realm of television, Elba drew a lot of attention when he starred as DCI John Luther in the British psychological drama Luther – meanwhile, he starred in Takers (alongside Paul Walker, Hayden Christensen, and more), joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Heimdall in Thor, fought some Kaijus in Pacific Rim, and played Nelson Mandela in Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.

Related: Thor: The MCU Never Solved Its Heimdall Problem

Idris Elba has been unstoppable since his very first TV role and has been taking over both film and TV for years, slowly but surely gaining the attention and respect his work deserves. His most recent work is the Western drama Concrete Cowboy, now streaming on Netflix, where he plays Harp, an urban cowboy dealing with his teenage son Cole (Caleb McLaughlin), whose lifestyle is completely different from his – but what’s next for him after this? This roundup covers every upcoming Idris Elba movie, including the new Sonic The Hedgehog content starring the man himself.

A new Knuckles spin-off series

Knuckles powers up his fists in Sonic the Hedgehog 2

Idris Elba took on the role of echidna antihero Knuckles for Sonic The Hedgehog 2, and Paramount confirmed that Knuckles will have a whole spinoff series to himself on Paramount Plus in 2023. The character is a true favorite in Sonic canon, so Paramount will be getting as much mileage as they can from the echidna. They're following the release model they successfully chose for the Peacemaker spinoff series starring Elba's The Suicide Squad teammate John Cena, having announced the Knuckles series before Sonic The Hedgehog 2's release.

Paramount only announced the series in February 2022, so there's not a whole lot of information about the Knuckles spin-off circulating bar confirmation of Elba's return. Idris has lent his talents to most major tentpole franchises now, including the MCU, DCEU, and Fast Saga. Increasing his presence in Sonic's wider mythology will only do wonders for his continuing dominance of Hollywood.

Related: The Office: What Happened To Idris Elba's Charles Miner After Season 5

Sonic The Hedgehog 3

Paramount and Sega have so much faith in their Sonic sequels that they've already greenlit Sonic 3 – and it's pretty likely to provide a dose of Idris Elba given Knuckles' continuing presence in spin-offs. There's no release date yet (as Sonic The Hedgehog 2 is still in theaters) but Paramount announced the new project in the same tweet as confirming next year's Knuckles spin-off.

It's pretty safe to assume that Idris will be returning for the Sonic franchise's third chapter, given that the studio is putting so much stock in his character for the TV show. With Jim Carrey's departure from the Sonic series likely following his retirement, it needs new leading performers now more than ever.

Three Thousand Years of Longing

Leaving superheroes and westerns aside, Three Thousand Years of Longing is a Tilda Swinton/Idris Elba romance movie written and directed by George Miller. It tells the story of a scholar who encounters a Djinn that offers her three wishes in exchange for his freedom – however, their conversation, which takes place in a hotel room in Istanbul, leads to consequences neither could have expected. Filming of Three Thousand Years of Longing was expected to begin in March 2020, but the coronavirus pandemic delayed those plans, and it started filming in November of that same year. As the movie is expected to release theatrically, there’s no projected release date yet.

Beast

Idris Elba in Luther on BBC America.

Moving into the realm of thrillers, Idris Elba is set to star in Universal Picture’s Beast, based on an original idea by Jaime Primak-Sullivan and directed by Baltasar Kormakur. The project was announced in September 2020 and no plot details were revealed, though it was described (via Deadline) as being “in the vein of The Shallows, but instead of sharks, a lion will be involved as the central antagonist.” Beast is currently listed as being in pre-production, and no more details have been revealed since it was announced.

Heads of State

Featured Idris Elba And John Cena Lead Heads Of State

In October 2020, news broke about Idris Elba reteaming with John Cena (who also stars in The Suicide Squad) in Amazon Studios’ Heads of State, written by Harrison Query and produced by Peter Safran and John Rickard. The project is described as a 1990s-style classic two-hander featuring high-octane drama and action that Deadline adds has “a bit of Air Force One meets Hobbs and Shaw”. Heads of State has no projected release date yet.

Luther

After Luther came to an end in 2019 after five seasons, fans of the BBC detective series were left wondering if a movie was going to happen, and rumors about it haven’t stopped ever since. Back in July 2020, Idris Elba shared a Luther movie is “close to happening”, and in February 2021, he told The All-New Capital Weekender (via NME) that among his plans for 2021 is making Luther: The Movie, but didn’t offer any more details. Most recently in May 2021 Elba told Variety that they are set to go into production for the movie in September, emphasizing "I’m so excited about it, it’s been a long time coming." He did add a "fingers crossed" to that statement, suggesting that there are fears that continued issues related to the Covid-19 pandemic could delay production further, but it is clear that the movie is ready to move ahead and if it doesn't happen soon, it will do eventually. Idris Elba’s agenda is full for the next couple of years, but as he has always been a very busy man, there’s no reason to believe he won’t be able to handle all these confirmed projects and more, and fans are definitely hoping the Luther movie will finally happen soon.

Next: The Suicide Squad: All 17 Characters In The NEW Task Force X Explained

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