Idris Elba On Board For Showtime’s Six-Part Miniseries Guerrilla

Luther and Beasts of No Nation star Idris Elba is bound for the small screen once more for Showtime’s miniseries, Guerrilla.

Representing something of a passion project for John Ridley, it’s understood the 12 Years a Slave Oscar winner will write, direct and executive produce the six-part drama, one that will chart the journey of a impassioned couple who take the bold step “from political activism to radical militancy.”

Once the leap has been made, Elba and his significant other set sights on the Black Power Desk, a clandestine counter-intelligence unit “dedicated to crushing all forms of black activism” in the English capital.

Both Ridley and Elba will work closely on Guerrilla, with the latter also poised to executive produce and direct the show’s opening two episodes. Holding up Ridley’s vision as a “master class in character building and storytelling,” the official logline for Showtime’s new series reads as follows:

[Guerrilla] is a love story set against the backdrop of one of the most politically explosive times in U.K. history. It tells the story of a politically active couple whose relationship and values are tested when they liberate a political prisoner and form a radical underground cell in 1970s London. Their ultimate target becomes the Black Power Desk, a true-life, secretive counter-intelligence unit within Special Branch dedicated to crushing all forms of black activism.

Working in collaboration with UK’s Sky Atlantic, it’s understood Showtime is eyeing a summer production start in London for Guerrilla, in and around the same time when Elba can be seen locking horns with the crew of the USS Enterprise for Paramount’s anticipated threequel, Star Trek Beyond.