There aren’t many TV leads who’ve pulled off a more impressive pivot than Damson Idris. His six-season run as Franklin Saint on “Snowfall” marked the arrival of a true leading man. Much like Idris Elba in “The Wire” or Omari Hardwick in “Power,” he carried a series that demanded real evolution, both from the character and the actor. It’s the kind of performance that makes someone synonymous with a role, and then leaves everyone wondering: What else can he do?
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As it turns out, quite a bit. Idris has been pretty careful with choosing all of his roles, before and after Franklin, but never losing out on a chance to play a complex character. From a traumatized teen in Farming to a slick upstart in the racing world opposite Brad Pitt in F1, he’s shown range that few of his peers can match. With that in mind, REVOLT took a look at the British actor’s most notable roles so far. Here’s to many more years of Damson Idris.
1. Franklin in “Snowfall”
From the very beginning of „Snowfall,“ Idris makes it quite clear that Franklin Saint is dangerous, not because he’s aggressive, but because he’s always thinking. By the show’s end, the South Central LA prodigy essentially morphs into something much darker: ambitious, ruthless, and completely unburdened by hesitation. Across the six seasons, Idris shapes our protagonist into a man who discovers exactly how power works and decides he wants it all, perhaps even to his own detriment.
2. Enitan in Farming
There’s no vanity in the NAACP Image Award winner’s portrayal of Enitan. Farming gives him one of, if not the, most difficult roles of his career: a Nigerian boy handed off to a white British family, stripped of his culture and loving care, and drawn — through horrifying logic — into a skinhead gang. What Idris does with that premise is portray identity on the edge of collapse. He doesn’t beg for our empathy. Instead, he forces us to sit uncomfortably close to Enitan’s pain, making us confront what it truly looks like when survival hinges on burying your very self.
3. Joshua in F1: The Movie
The British actor/entrepreneur enters F1 as Joshua Pearce, perhaps the most nuanced figure in the adrenaline-pumping sports drama. He’s framed as the future of racing: a young, Black driver in a world still learning how to make space for someone like him. To the film’s credit, Idris doesn’t play Pearce as a statement but rather as a real person: wary, brilliant, occasionally abrasive, and carefully trying to survive a machine that’s just as political as it is physical.
4. Harp in Outside the Wire
In the opening minutes of Outside the Wire, Harp is forced to make a tough call: risk the lives of many or sacrifice the lives of a few. He chooses the latter, which ultimately sets the tone for the rest of the film. Harp is court-martialed and dispatched to the demilitarized zone to experience combat firsthand. Regardless of the plot’s twists and turns, his character remains compelling, facing it all head-on.
5. Dorian in “The Twilight Zone”
Jordan Peele’s „The Twilight Zone“ reboot wasn’t perfect, but the BET Award winner’s featured episode was arguably one of the anthology’s more promising stories, focusing on family and social justice. The world lives in a time loop, and we watch a mother reliving the same day, trying to keep her son safe from a racist cop. It’s heavily symbolic by design, but he refuses to let his character exist as just a metaphor. He’s warm, thoughtful, full of life, and, at one point, cracking jokes just before everything falls apart.
6. Jaden in “Black Mirror”
With “Black Mirror’s” range of styles, stories, and, yes, actors, the Netflix series inevitably varies in quality. Idris spends nearly all of the episode held hostage in the back of a car, and yet he still manages to make a lasting impact. As Jaden, a low-level intern swept up in another man’s spiral of grief, he holds his own.
7. Jordan in ‘Astral’
The London-born star rarely ventures into horror territory, but with Astral, he seized the chance to do something completely different. The role is small — small enough that the story could’ve moved along without him — but it’s a clear signal of his range and openness to experiment with genre. That matters, especially in a film where the budget doesn’t leave a lot of room to hide behind effects or spectacle.
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