Incredibly tense Idris Elba thriller series is returning to our screens

Simon Kelly

Not one for those with a fear of flying.

If you’re a fan of incredibly tense and thrilling series, then you’re in luck, as Apple TV+ have confirmed that Hijack is coming back for a second season to the streamer.

The first season of the Idris Elba starring thriller went down an absolute treat, leaving viewers with a healthy dose of plane-related anxiety and chewed off nails.

Elba will return as negotiator Sam Nelson in the next season of Hijack, which quickly shot up to the most watched show upon its release last year on Apple TV+.

Incredibly tense Idris Elba thriller series is returning to our screens

Told in real time, the first season of Hijack follows Nelson on a seven-hour plane ride from Dubai to London which is hijacked by terrorists.

The negotiator quickly steps in to try and diffuse the situation before anyone gets killed – but soon realises there is more to the hijackers’ plot than first seems.

Archie Panjabi, Christine Adams, Max Beesley and Ben Miles also starred in the first season.

“Global audiences were on tenterhooks watching Idris’ riveting performance in Hijack, and we’re thrilled to be working again with [executive producers] 60Forty and Idiotlamp on an equally compelling Season 2,” said Jay Hunt, Apple TV+’s creative director for Europe.

While there haven’t been any plot details released for the upcoming second season, Elba told Variety last year that he is keen to return as Nelson.

“I’m open to that character coming back,” he told the publication. “I think if people were compelled to like the character, then I’m in.

“But it’s kind of like — he’s not a cop [so] what would be the acceptable Sam Nelson return? And if I’m honest, I’m not sure. I’d like that, but I just don’t want to put him on another hijack.”

The first series holds a very respectable 88% critic’s score on Rotten Tomatoes. Below are what some were saying about season one:

The Guardian – “Perfect nonsense, to be enjoyed wholeheartedly — though probably, for anxious passengers, on terra firma.”

The Hollywood Reporter: “Despite ample opportunities to either venerate heroism or philosophise about the darkness at the heart of man, it tends toward neither sentimentality nor cynicism. It’s here mostly to deliver on fun — and that it serves up in spades.”

Empire – “An instantly enthralling aeroplane-set thriller which deploys its real-time format to ratchet up the tension to the max, while providing Idris Elba with one of his most satisfying roles so far.”

Season one of Hijack is available to watch right now on Apple TV+.