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Idris Elba claims he turned down a role in Lost

He walked the path of Luther instead.

Idris Elba attends the world premiere of
Idris Elba at New York's Museum of Modern Art. (Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Idris Elba apparently rejected a job on Lost back in the day.

This revelation arrived on the latest episode of That Peter Crouch Podcast, where the Hollywood megastar recalled the seemingly risky decision to return to London after breaking big as Stringer Bell in The Wire.

Read more: Luther recap: The story so far of the Idris Elba show from season one to The Fallen Sun

"The woman that runs Apple TV+, she was the commissioner that brought me back to the UK to make Luther, she worked at the BBC at the time and she sent me a script," he told Crouch, Steve Sidwell and Chris Stark.

"It was Luther. I remember, my career was fine, I'd done Stringer Bell but I was doing this, I wasn't doing that. I remember reading this show, it was a six-part TV show on the BBC in England and everyone was like, 'You sure you wanna go back home and do that?' and I was like, 'This is gonna be a life-changer for me, and it did.'"

Idris Elba as Luther (Credit: BBC)
In character as DCI John Luther. (BBC)

Quizzed on his newfound power to turn down big offers - following The Wire's smash-hit status - Elba told the lads that iconic survival drama Lost came calling.

"At the same time as Luther, I was offered a role in that show... uh, Lost," he revealed.

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"It was gonna be a season character and at the time Lost was the biggest show in the world, and I'm thinking, 'Mmmm no I'm alright, I'm gonna go back to the UK where it's gonna be a smaller audience but no-one's seen this character before.'"

Cut to over a decade later and he's just taken DCI John Luther to the big screen in The Fallen Sun.

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