Is Idris Elba playing the villain in Star Trek 3?

From protecting the Bifrost to training mecha warriors, Idris Elba has racked up a fair few genre points on his resume, and he ain’t finished yet.

Variety reports that the Luther star has entered early talks to play one of the lead villains in Star Trek 3.

No further details have been unveiled in terms of who he might be playing. Early word suggests that he may commandeer the klingons, who have thus far remained off the radar in Paramount’s newly rebooted franchise.

Intense secrecy surrounding the trilogy-closer's antagonists is to be expected. After all, the major bombshell of Benedict Cumberbatch’s identity in Into Darkness rested entirely upon audience surprise.

J.J. Abrams, who directed the first two outings, will produce the third instalment. Justin Lin is set to direct from a script by Simon Pegg and Doug Jung.

Starring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana and Anton Yelchin, Star Trek 3 opens July 8, 2016.

For more great movie news, subscribe to Total Film.

Gem Seddon

Gem Seddon is GamesRadar+'s west coast Entertainment News Reporter, working to keep all of you updated on all of the latest and greatest movies and shows on streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime. Outside of entertainment journalism, Gem can frequently be found writing about the alternative health and wellness industry, and obsessing over all things Aliens and Terminator on Twitter.