Not content with a legacy of awesome from The Wire, a role in Thor and his own British detective TV show (Luther, soon to debut on BBC America), Idris Elba looks set to get a movie franchise of his own, as well.

According to Deadline Hollywood, Elba has signed on to take over the role of James Patterson's Alex Cross, the FBI doctor played by Morgan Freeman in Kiss The Girls and Along Came a Spider, in David Twohy's new adaptation of Cross. Production on the privately-funded movie is expected to begin next year, once Twohy has finished reworking the existing script, and a distributor will be found at a later date. As one who's enjoyed Elba's work in the past, I'm glad he's getting this break, and only hope that Cross is better than the previous movies in the series...