Sam Hargrave Tells Us How Idris Elba Joined ‘Extraction 2’

Now that it’s been officially confirmed by Netflix, the pop culture world knows that Idris Elba — who previously co-starred alongside Chris Hemsworth in the Thor and Avengers films — has joined the Extraction franchise via a role in the upcoming sequel.

Speaking to director Sam Hargrave, who has expertly helmed by the original and the upcoming Extraction 2, BroBible’s Post-Credit Podcast asked how Elba’s top-secret casting came to be. Long story short? It pays to have a world-famous movie star (Chris Hemsworth) as your lead actor.

“Idris Elba is an amazing actor and an amazing talent who in his own canon of film has stood out as someone who really brings all of his heart and soul to the characters he plays,” Hargrave told Post Cred Pod.

“And so he also is a huge fan of Chris’ but also a good friend — they go way back and have worked together. And they’ve wanted to do things together outside of that universe. So, when we were trying to expand [the Extraction] franchise, Chris made a phone call and said ‘Hey, would you want to come play?’ And he graciously said yes. And there you go.”

In addition to the tidbit about Elba, Hargrave also told us that there’s already an idea for a third movie in the franchise if the upcoming sequel is successful.

“Fingers crossed, if people enjoy the second one, there already is — and this is without spoiling anything — but there is a story in development for a third movie in the works. What it is exactly, I can’t say right now, but I believe there is another adventure in the wind for Tyler Rake,” Hargrave said.

Those potential future adventures, obviously, would also now include Elba’s mysterious and powerful character.

Alongside Hemsworth and Elba, Extraction 2 also stars Golshifteh Farahani, Adam Bessa, Olga Kurylenko, Daniel Bernhardt, Tinatin Dalakishvili. The film will begin streaming on Netflix on Friday, June 16.