'Fast and Furious' Spinoff 'Hobbs and Shaw' Adds Idris Elba as Villain

Idris Elba's next role is going to be a villainous one in the Fast and Furious spinoff, according to Variety.

The spinoff, Hobbs and Shaw, which currently has a July 26, 2019 release date, will center on Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham's characters from the Fast and Furious films, with Elba playing the villain. Johnson has played US Diplomatic Security Agent Luke Hobbs since the fifth Fast and Furious movie, 2011's Fast Five, while Statham first appeared in the sixth film, 2013's Fast & Furious 6, as (now former) villain Deckard Shaw.

"He's a baaaaaad man. … Every hero is only as good as their villain. Cue the music… let's dance," Johnson tweeted about Elba joining Hobbs and Shaw on Thursday. He later added, "I promised we were going to make this Fast & Furious spin off awesome and grow our franchise properly. He's a bad man (legit bad ass). I better toughen up."

Also set to join the spinoff is The Crown's Vanessa Kirby as Statham's character's sister, an MI-5 agent, according to Variety. "We chopped it up and we had some GREAT chemistry together. She's a sharp one – this is gonna be fun!" Johnson tweeted about Kirby's casting on Tuesday.

Universal Pictures' Hobbs and Shaw was written by Chris Morgan, who also wrote the scripts for the Fast and Furious movies starting with the third installment, 2006's The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. David Leitch, who directed Deadpool 2, will direct the spinoff.

Universal wanted to make this spinoff because of the chemistry between Johnson and Statham from the Fate of the Furious, according to The Hollywood Reporter in 2017. "The global brand of Fast & Furious is strong and full of iconic characters, and we look forward to continuing to build on the film that started it all, as well as expanding into different narratives beginning with our first spinoff," Universal Pictures chairman Donna Langley said to the publication when the studio announced its release date.

Hobbs and Shaw isn't the only project Elba has coming up. The actor tweeted a teaser for a new season of Luther, the BBC crime drama in which he stars as the title character, DCI John Luther, on June 18. The video doesn't reveal much – it only shows him walking down a hall, breathing hard – but it features the tagline, "This will hurt." The BBC has yet to announce the premiere date for Season 5.