At a Glance
- Idris Elba’s character Sam Nelson becomes the hijacker in season 2 premiere
- Elba calls the role reversal “clever” and key to green-lighting a second season
- New episodes drop Wednesdays on Apple TV through the March 4 finale
Why it matters: Fans get a fresh take on the thriller as the hero-turned-hijacker plot flips the franchise formula.
Idris Elba’s corporate negotiator Sam Nelson is back-but this time he’s the one holding the power. The season 2 premiere of Apple TV’s Hijack ends with Sam telling a terrified Berlin train conductor, “I’m hijacking this train,” a moment Elba says sealed his commitment to another season.
The Twist That Won Elba Over
The reveal arrives after viewers watch Sam improbably land in a second hostage situation, now on a crowded underground train instead of a plane. For Elba, the swap from negotiator to hijacker answered the core question of how the same man could face an identical crisis twice.
> “I was like, ‘Okay, that’s clever. That’s good,’ ” Elba tells News Of Losangeles of his first reaction to the script. “I’m trying to formalize the second season with the team during the success of the first season. So I was trying to figure out what do we do? What do we do? How do we do it? And then this idea came up like, ‘What if he’s the hijacker?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah.’ And then it all started to cascade.”
From Negotiator to Antagonist
Season 1 saw Sam rely on negotiation skills to calm plane hijackers while enlisting fellow passengers to help. Season 2 forces the audience to puzzle out why Sam now instills terror instead of easing it.
Elba, 53, says the moral shift offers rich material: “As an actor, from a performance perspective, there’s a lot there to chew on and get involved with, which I really enjoy doing.”
He expects viewers to scrutinize the storyline: “I really want the audience in the second season to naturally go in with scrutiny and be like, ‘What? Hijack 2? That can’t possibly happen again to this man, but here we are.’ “
Cast and Release Schedule
Alongside Elba, returning and new cast members include:
- Christine Adams
- Max Beesley
- Archie Panjabi
- Christian Näthe as conductor Otto
- Clare-Hope Ashitey
- Lisa Vicari
- Toby Jones
- Karima McAdams
- Christiane Paul
Above ground, authorities scramble to resolve the hostage crisis while deciphering Sam’s motives. Fresh episodes stream Wednesdays, culminating in the March 4 finale.
Key Takeaways
- Sam’s hijacker turn redefines the series premise
- Elba credits the twist for convincing him to return
- Season 2 is now available exclusively on Apple TV
