Apple signs first-look film and television deal with Idris Elba

Apple TV+ logo
Apple TV+ logo (Image credit: Apple TV+)

What you need to know

  • Apple has signed a first-look deal with Idris Elba.
  • The star will produce original series and films for Apple TV Plus.
  • Elba has reportedly been building up his production company for the last few years.

Apple has been signing big Hollywood name after big Hollywood name to Apple TV+ since it launched back in 2019, and today's news seems to indicate the company is not stopping anytime soon.

According to a new report from Deadline, Apple has signed a first-look deal with Idris Elba. Under the deal, Elba will produce original series and films for Apple TV+ via his Green Door Pictures production company.

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.

According to Deadline, Elba has been building up his production company over the last few years, releasing a number of projects to film, television, and even streaming services such as Quibi.

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.

Deadline notes that Jay Hunt, who originally commissioned Elba's series Luther at the BBC is now the European content chief for Apple. It did not go far as to say if the relationship played a part in the deal.

Joe Wituschek
Contributor

Joe Wituschek is a Contributor at iMore. With over ten years in the technology industry, one of them being at Apple, Joe now covers the company for the website. In addition to covering breaking news, Joe also writes editorials and reviews for a range of products. He fell in love with Apple products when he got an iPod nano for Christmas almost twenty years ago. Despite being considered a "heavy" user, he has always preferred the consumer-focused products like the MacBook Air, iPad mini, and iPhone 13 mini. He will fight to the death to keep a mini iPhone in the lineup. In his free time, Joe enjoys video games, movies, photography, running, and basically everything outdoors.