Idris Elba continues to be an enigma to me. Yes he’s a well-known (and very handsome) actor but is also a DJ for fun. His roles vary a ton too, from the morally ambiguous John Luther to Bloodsport in The Suicide Squad to Knuckles in Sonic the Hedgehog 2. And, of course, Marvel fans know him as Hemidall, who sadly died at the hands of Thanos. But now, Idris Elba is accomplishing perhaps his greatest challenge yet: a bloodthirsty lion. We are getting the very weird gift of seeing Idris Elba punch a revenge driven lion in a trailer for Beast, an upcoming action film. 

The Beast trailer tells us a lot of what we need to know. Idris Elba is a father on a trip with his daughters who fights to protect them from a not-normal lion. In fact, it’s pretty clear that this massive killer is very upset with all of humanity. I cannot argue in defense of humans in general. But I do want this scary beast to leave Idris Elba alone. Here’s the Beast film synopsis: 

Elba plays Dr. Nate Daniels, a recently widowed husband who returns to South Africa, where he first met his wife, on a long-planned trip with their daughters to a game reserve managed by Martin Battles (Sharlto Copley, Russian Doll series, Maleficent), an old family friend and wildlife biologist. But what begins as a journey of healing jolts into a fearsome fight for survival when a lion, a survivor of blood-thirsty poachers who now sees all humans as the enemy, begins stalking them. 

Iyana Halley (The Hate U Give, This is Us series) plays Daniels’ 18-year-old daughter, Meredith, and Leah Sava Jeffries (Rel series, Empire series) plays his 13-year-old, Norah.  

Idris Elba looks frightened in a shattered car in Beast
Universal Pictures

Well, that is quite entertaining and definitely gives off some The Ghost and the Darkness vibes. (Maybe this will be better, though.) Lions seeking revenge is very much so a horror rooted in reality, right? Thankfully we won’t have to wait long to see Beast because it is coming to theaters on August 19. Are you #TeamRevengeLion or #TeamIdris Elba?