New Netflix movie starring Idris Elba gets a release date

Idris Elba and Caleb McLaughlin in Concrete Cowboy — (Image credit: Netflix)

Concrete Cowboy, a new Idris Elba-led Western, has finally got a release date – it's coming to Netflix on April 2. Stranger Things' Caleb McLaughlin also stars in this new, urban take on the Western genre. The movie is directed by Ricky Staub in his feature debut, while Elba is also on board as a producer.

The movie follows 15-year-old Cole (McLaughlin), who gets sent from his home in Detroit to live with his estranged father (Elba) in Philadelphia. While there, Cole learns about the neighborhood's local urban cowboys and he struggles with respect for his father’s community, and his friendship with a troubled cousin. It's based on the 2009 novel Ghetto Cowboy by Greg Neri, which was in turn inspired by the real-life Fletcher Street Urban Riding Club in North Philadelphia. The 100-year-old club allows local horsemen to teach local kids to care for horses.

Elba's last big-screen role was as Macavity the Mystery Cat in the 2019 musical Cats. He has a few other projects in the pipeline too, including James Gunn's DC reboot-slash-sequel, The Suicide Squad, in which he plays Bloodsport. He'll also star in another Netflix Western, The Harder They Fall, alongside Jonathan Majors, Lakeith Stanfield, and Regina King. McLaughlin, meanwhile, is making his big-screen debut in Concrete Cowboy – he's best known for playing Lucas in Netflix's hit sci-fi series, Stranger Things.