Apple TV+ Renews Popular Series for Season 2
Idris Elba's drama 'Hijack,' which was meant to be a miniseries, will now be getting a second season.
Apple TV+ just renewed Hijack for Season 2. The thriller series starring Idris Elba premiered back in June, and it was initially billed as a miniseries with a definitive ending. According to a report by TV Line, the responses from the audience drove Apple to renew the show, and the cast and creators are excited to return.
"I was floored by the overwhelming audience response after Season 1," Elba said in a statement on the renewal. "It's top secret what new situation unfolds for Sam Nelson, but I can assure you we will bring the high octane back!" Elba is also an executive producer on the series, which was created by writer George Kay and director Jim Field Smith. It was ordered by Apple in the spring of 2022 and filmed throughout the summer, finally premiering in June of 2023.
Elba plays Sam Nelson, a corporate business negotiator who gets in over his head in this series. He is on a flight from Dubai to London which is hijacked by a coordinated team of armed criminals. The series follows attempts to resolve this hijacking without loss of life, and Sam's skills are pushed to new limits.
Other passengers play a big part in the story as well. The show stars Neil Maskell, Ben Miles, Kaisa Hammarlund, Zora Bishop, Jeremy Ang, Kate Phillips, Jasper Britton, Jack McMullen, Aimée Kelly and Mohamed Elsandel as other characters on the plane. Meanwhile, tandem stories unfold on the ground starring Christine Adams, Eve Myles, Archie Panjabi, Max Beesley, Neil Stuke and Simon McBurney.
The close quarters of the airplane and ticking time bomb of the hijacking plot made the miniseries format a natural fit for this story, and it also left things wide open for Season 2. Elba gave some hints about where the story might go, pointing out that Sam "isn't a cop, he isn't ex-military or a spy or anything like that. This is just an ordinary guy heading home, and he gets into this incredible situation. And the likelihood of lightning striking at the same spot is rare."
"There are ways that we can bring Sam back; I just don't know what they are yet. But if the audience wants it, then we'll make it happen," he said. From the sound of it, Sam may be the only returning character in Season 2, though a few others stand a good chance. Adams played Sam's ex-wife Marsha, while Beesley played Marsha's new boyfriend, so it's possible that they'll return. Beyond that, it's anyone's guess.
Hijack is streaming now on Apple TV+. While a second season has been ordered, there's no word on when it will go into production or when fans may get to see it for themselves.