There may be only two episodes out of the new Apple TV+ drama Hijack, but we’re already hooked. A story told in real time? Idris Elba as a corporate negotiator trying to put his skills to use when his flight home is hijacked? Waiting to see how he manages to get out of a very tricky, very volatile situation? Give us more!
But would Elba be game to do another season as Sam Nelson trying to negotiate himself out of some other situation? We like Sam, so we want to see it!
“I like Sam, too,” Elba tells TV Insider. “Look, I’m going to be honest here. I’d like to see Sam come back, but I just don’t want to see another Hijack. It’s got to be clever, and we can see him make decisions that are impossible to make. And I think that’s going to be fun for the audience, but it has to be the right setup. So who knows? If the audience really wants it, it’s going to happen.”
Hijack is a tense thriller told in seven episodes to cover the seven-hour flight to London after it’s hijacked and as authorities on the ground try to get answers. The series also stars Archie Panjabi, Christine Adams, Max Beesley, Eve Myles, Neil Maskell, Jasper Britton, Harry Michell, Aimée Kelly, Mohamed Elsandel, and Ben Miles.
Elba’s Sam Nelson is one of the passengers, an accomplished negotiator in the business world who must step up and try to save the passengers’ lives. But, after the first two episodes, which see him try to talk to the hijackers and begin working with the pilot to alert those on the ground they’re in trouble, Sam is “a little naive,” Elba admits to us.
“He’s like, ‘OK, I’ve got this figured out,’” he continues. “That’s the thing about the Sam Nelson character is that he’s got a great intellect and he’s good at trying to pit people up against each other in his normal day job as a negotiator of businesses. But in this scenario, he’s just a little naive.”
That’s why, assuming Sam survives the next five episodes, we’re all for seeing more of him.
Hijack, Wednesdays, Apple TV+