Apple TV+'s 'Hijack' Season 1 is Pulpy, Popcorn Fun

I have something a tad bit upsetting to share with you. It’s quite possible that you missed an entire TV series centered around Idris Elba as an action hero. 

It’s not entirely your fault. Hijack ran on AppleTV+ during the summer of 2023. As they say in the south, bless Apple TV+’s hearts, but until recently, the streaming service was notoriously not great at promoting their shows. (There appears to have been a sea change with Severance Season 2, though we should note the recently renewed Ted Lasso has been the exception to the rule.) The series was a critical success, and Elba was nominated for an Emmy award for his role in the series. Hijack was actually the second Apple TV+ series besides Ted Lasso to crack the Nielsen Streaming Originals Top 10 list. 

(Both have now been bested by Severance, at least for the time being.)

Even with all that, it still took Apple a little bit of time to realize they had a potential hit on their hands. Almost six months after the first season finale, Apple TV+ renewed Hijack for a second season. Although a premiere date for the second season hasn’t been announced yet, most assume it's a safe bet that Season 2 will again arrive in the summer. It has that summer action blockbuster vibe. 

All this is to say that it’s time for you, my dear viewer, to catch up. Taking its roots from 24, the seven-episode series unfolds in real time (ish, a lot happens every episode). Highly paid corporate negotiator Sam Nelson (Idris) is catching a nearly seven-hour flight from Dubai to London. The flight is full of the kind of passengers we have all dealt with. The annoyingly chatty Hugo (Harry Michell) has his phone at full volume. There’s Naomi (Mei Henri), a teen traveling with two of her teammates—all in matching sweatshirts. Frazzled mom (Kaisa Hammarlund) and dad (Marcus Garvey) are exhausted from traveling with their two young kids who only want to play video games.

Sheena (Liz Kingsman) just wants to read her book and drink her flavored water and is highly annoyed by having to sit next to the children. Nervous flyer Amanda (Holly Aird) is full of anxiety and barely holding it together. There’s also some drama amid the crew as the (married) pilot Captain Robin Allen (Ben Miles, who can also be seen in Britbox’s Douglas is Cancelled) is having an affair with flight attendant Colette (Kate Phillips), much to the chagrin of her fellow flight attendant Arthur (Jeremy Ang Jones).

No action series is complete without some angsty romantic drama for our hero. Sam is flying home (first class natch) with an expensive piece of jewelry from Gucci to talk to his estranged wife, Marsha (Christine Adams). Marsha has moved on with Daniel (Max Beesley), a police detective whose ex-girlfriend Zahra (Archie Panjabi) is a counter-terrorism officer. Sam and Marsha have a teenage son, Kai (Jude Cudjoe), who does not like Daniel. “I decided to get one that’s fixed onto the floor so you and your mates can’t pull me over for no reason,” he snarkily tells Daniel about his stationary exercise bike.

These characters become very important because, as the show title suggests, we will not just hang out with the passengers on their seven-hour flight while they eat snacks, sleep, and watch movies.

It quickly becomes apparent that there are bad people on the plane with a nefarious plan, just as we meet Neela (Nikkita Chadha), a TSA agent in the Dubai airport who suddenly gets an emergency phone call that she needs to come home. Dubai air traffic controller Abdullah (Mohamed Faisal Mostafa) is suspicious that Captain Allen has suddenly called off his confirmed security incident. He doesn’t believe they are the “the plane that cried wolf,” as his fellow air traffic controller puts it. 

In London, we meet frazzled mom Alice Sinclair (Eve Myles), who is again late to her job as an air traffic controller. (She's late so often that she’s twice used the excuse that her son has appendicitis.) She’s also convinced that something is going on with Kingdom Air Flight 29. “How does that work? A false alarm . . . That’s really weird, don’t you think?  . . . Something smells dodgy,” she tells her supervisor. 

There are also plenty of political officials like British Foreign Secretary Louise Aitchison (Hattie Morahan) who are only out to cover their own hides. Lots of bureaucrats who are annoyed that they have to investigate a potential hijacking they aren’t even sure happened, and lots of red herrings. Lots of very misguided passengers who think they can save the day when we know only Sam can. “Listen to me, okay? If you want to get the better of someone, you have to think like they think,” he tells the clueless Hugh. But somehow, Elba makes it all work. Would you expect anything less from People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive?

HIjack excels at getting viewers invested in characters you’ve just met. Sure, it’s a little emotionally manipulative, but it also makes the show such a fun ride. I’m not going to lie to you: The plot is preposterous. As is the notion that only Sam can save the day. I don’t want to say too much about the bad guys because who they are and why they are hijacking a plane is revealed over several episodes. But it is refreshing to have the terrorists and their motives not be stereotypical. If ever there was a show requiring the willing suspension of disbelief, Hijack is it. 

The only thing disappointing about Hijack is its vague-ish, somewhat unsatisfying ending. What will happen in the next season? Toby Jones (Mr. Bates vs the Post Office), Clare-Hope Ashitey (Funny Woman), Karima McAdams (The Wheel of Time), and Christian Näthe (Luna + Sophie) have all joined the cast. Co-creator and director Jim Field Smith will be back along with Elba, who also serves as one of the series' executive producers. Will Sam have a seat on yet another doomed flight? Stay tuned.

All episodes of Hijack Season 1 are currently streaming on Apple TV+. Season 2 is expected out sometime in the 2025-2026 TV season.