Idris Elba is in final talks to play the villain in The Rock's 'Fast and Furious' spinoff, 'Hobbs and Shaw'

Universal

• Idris Elba is joining Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Jason Statham in the "Fast and Furious" spinoff, "Hobbs and Shaw."
• Elba is in final talks to play the film's villain, according to Variety.
• "Hobbs and Shaw" comes to theaters next summer, while the ninth "Furious" movie arrives in 2020.

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's "Fast and Furious" spinoff just found its villain.

According to Variety, Idris Elba is in final talks to join Johnson and Jason Statham in next year's "Hobbs and Shaw" as the movie's main antagonist. Elba is coming off of roles in other popular franchises such as the Marvel Cinematic Universe where he played Heimdall in the "Thor" movies and "Avengers: Infinity War," and "Star Trek Beyond" where he also played the villain.

"Hobbs and Shaw," directed by "Deadpool 2" director David Leitch, comes to theaters July 26, 2019, while the ninth "Furious" movie is set to hit in April, 2020. While longtime "Furious" director Justin Lin is returning for that movie, it's unknown whether Johnson will.

The actor had a falling-out with his "Furious" costars, primarily Vin Diesel, who he called out in a Facebook post for being unprofessional during production on the eighth film, last year's "The Fate of the Furious." Johnson recently implied that he still had ill-will toward Diesel, and didn't know if he'd return for the ninth film, which was postponed to 2020. His other costar Tyrese Gibson blamed Johnson for the delay.

But Johnson seems to be doing fine regardless. With Elba joining the cast, "Hobbs and Shaw" is shaping up to be a worthy spinoff to the blockbuster "Furious" franchise, and Johnson himself is a bonafide box office sensation, especially in China where "Rampage" exceeded expectations earlier this year. "Furious 7" and "Fate" also made over $1 billion worldwide.

Johnson will show up again in theaters next week in "Skyscraper."

More on The Rock:

• The Rock called out his 'Fast and Furious' co-stars who complained about his spin-off movie
• How The Rock conquered the China box office and proved he's the biggest movie star on the planet
• The Rock's new movies is getting a rare summer release in China, further proving his star power there
• The Rock threatened to quit 'Rampage' unless the ending was changed
• The Rock is getting paid $1 million to post on social media about a new movie he's in
• Every movie The Rock has starred in, ranked by how much money they made at the US box office