Idris Elba… kickboxing. Seems so obvious, you wonder why it took so long to happen. Perhaps he was busy being strapped to two trees or perfecting his splits, Van Damme-style. Either way, the big man has officially signed up to front Discovery’s new documentary series about the martial art, Idris Elba: Fighter. Expect montages, plenty of 'em.
The series, a follow-up to his car racing doc Idris Elba: No Limits, will see him tested to the limits across three, hour-long episodes. It “will see Elba undertake the physically and mentally demanding task of training to become a professional kickboxer". He’s already hard at work.
Yup, it’s now Stacker Pentecostal. He’ll need to be at his very buffest, with the show ultimately sending him into the ring against "a seasoned brawler in a no-holds-barred bout”. It’ll take him to Cuba, Japan, South Africa and Thailand, as well as the UK, en route.
“It has been a lifelong ambition of mine to fight professionally,” explains Elba. "Entering the ring to further test myself as a human being is a challenge I have been looking to take on for quite some time.”
The series will be airing sometime in 2017. In the meantime, Elba – should he not get on the wrong side of Bolo Yeung – will continue developing his own directorial debut, Yardie, and also has the Dark Tower film and Thor: Ragnarok on the horizon.