After a bidding war, Apple has won the rights to an upcoming spy thriller that has Idris Elba attached to star and produce alongside Simon Kinberg, the creator for X-men. Audrey Chon, president of Kinberg’s Genre Films, will produce.

The screenplay was penned by Travon Free, whose credits extend to The Daily Show and HBO series Camping. 

Apple has a whole slew of star-driven projects currently, with Elba’s untitled spy thriller, Emancipation starring Will Smith, and Killers of the Flower Moon, directed by none other than Martin Scorsese.

The title of the project has not been revealed yet, much less any plot details. What we do know is that the project will reportedly be set in Africa and is described as a romantic spy thriller. Kinberg is no stranger to mixing the romance genre into action-packed spy thriller movies, most notably for his work in Mr. and Mrs. Smith, a 2005 movie starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.

Kingberg has also been active with Apple, with an untitled sci-fi series with the tech studio. He also has been developing another spy thriller called 355, headed for debut in 2021 via Universal.

Elba had made quite the headlines earlier this year for testing positive for COVID-19. He has reported a smooth recovery and is now back in the game, with Concrete Cowboys marking his next appearance. Concrete Cowboys will debut at the Toronto Film Festival in September. He also is due back in theaters in 2021 with The Suicide Squad sequel. Besides this untitled spy project, he will next shoot the Netflix western Harder They Fall.