Idris Elba, who played the villainous Krall, also known as Balthazar M. Edison, in Star Trek Beyond, has locked in his next project.
The acclaimed actor, according to the Hollywood trade publication Variety, will star in and direct a big-screen version of Neil LaBute’s stage play This Is How It Goes for Apple Original Films. Variety describes This Is How It Goes as a “tense, psychological thriller” that “tells the story of a couple who reconnect with an old school acquaintance – apparently randomly – and offer to take him in.” Hardcore Elba fans may recall that the actor, who is British, co-starred in a West End production of the play back in 2005.
The announcement about This Is How It Goes comes on the heels of news about another Elba production, a thriller called A House of Dynamite, which earned an 11-minute-long standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival, which ran from August 27 to September 6. Netflix, which will release the film in theaters on October 10 before it begins streaming on the service on October 24, offered the following logline: “When a single, unattributed missile is launched at the United States, a race begins to determine who is responsible and how to respond.”
Directed by Academy Award winner Kathryn Bigelow, A House of Dynamite, also stars Rebecca Ferguson, Anthony Ramos, and Greta Lee. Check out the trailer below…
Seemingly always working, Elba has several additional projects on the way. He’ll once again provide the voice of Chief Bogo in the animated feature Zootopia 2, which will feature a score by Star Trek veteran Michael Giacchino. He co-stars as Duncan/Man-at-Arms in Masters of the Universe, which also features Jared Leto, Camila Mendes, Alison Brie, Morena Baccarin, and Nicholas Galitzine. And then there’s the fantasy film Children of Blood and Bone, based on the novel of the same name. The cast also includes Cynthia Erivo, Thuso Mbedu, Amandla Stenberg, Lashana Lynch, Viola Davis, and Regina King. Paramount Pictures will release Children of Blood and Bone in early 2027.
Elba's turn as Krall in Star Trek Beyond still gets people talking even almost a decade later. Few fans dislike Elba's performance. He played the role well, delivering a strong mix of vengeance-seeking and menace, along with a dash of pathos. However, many fans believe that the role itself could have -- and should have -- been better conceived. Beyond gave us yet another disgruntled Starfleet figure and yet another human stranded on a planet. Elba could only do so much with something so familiar. That was our thought in 2016 and remains our thought now. How about you?