Back in 2023, Apple TV launched Hijack, a surprise hit that trapped Idris Elba’s character Sam Nelson—a business negotiator, not an action hero—on a hijacked plane for seven nail-biting hours.
Now, two and a half years later, Sam is back.
But this time, he’s not 35,000 feet in the air.
He’s trapped underground on a hijacked subway train in Berlin—and the production team built two full trains and an entire station to pull it off.
Why Bring Sam Nelson Back?
Sam Nelson isn’t James Bond. He doesn’t have “a particular set of skills.” He’s just a businessman who got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.
So why does Hijack Season 2 exist?
According to Jim Field Smith, the series co-creator, executive producer, and lead director for Season 2, it comes down to character depth and unfinished business.
When you make a TV show, you spend so much time literally making the show, but you spend a lot of time with the character, and you spend a lot of time problem solving.
In Season 1, Sam was stuck in what Smith calls a “puzzle box”—a real-time thriller where each episode corresponded to one hour of flight time. The format was intense, but it also meant Sam could only evolve “a few inches” as a character over those seven hours.
That constraint left plenty of threads dangling. Why were the hijackers there? What’s Sam’s relationship with his estranged son and ex-wife really like? Season 1 couldn’t answer everything.
There’s unfinished business, and this is a chance to not just set the record straight, but to actually explore that unfinished business.
From Passenger to Instigator
Smith didn’t want to just replicate Season 1. He wanted to flip the script entirely.
In Season 1, Sam was reactive—a passive passenger who slowly got more involved. In Season 2, he’s the one causing events to happen.
I wanted Season 2 to feel like a yin and yang partner piece to Season 1, and so I immediately started thinking in opposites.
Two years after the plane hijack, Sam has gone down a path of “revenge and justice.” That road leads him to Berlin’s U-Bahn subway system, where he finds himself trapped once again—but this time, it’s different.
Why Underground? Why a Train?
Smith’s brain went straight to opposites. Season 1 was 35,000 feet in the air. What’s the polar opposite?
An underground train.
But shooting on a subway presented entirely new challenges. Unlike an airplane, where passengers have assigned seats and a shared agreement to reach a destination, a subway is random.
The moment where Sam gets on that train and the doors are shut, that seals the fate of every single person on that train.
Another twist? The passengers don’t even know they’ve been hijacked until episode four. That means three full episodes where Sam is holding a dangerous secret, and viewers are left wondering: When will everyone else figure it out?
Building Two Trains and an Entire Station
Smith is a stickler for authenticity. For Season 2, that meant replicating Berlin’s U-Bahn trains down to exact dimensions.
The production built two trains:
- Interior train: Two carriages mounted on hydraulic and pneumatic rigs so actors didn’t have to fake the swaying motion. Smith even uses that motion for dramatic effect in the finale.
- Exterior train: A fully functional train that could move in and out of constructed station and tunnel sets.
They also surrounded sets with LED walls to simulate tunnels and platforms speeding by outside windows. Unlike an airplane at cruising altitude—where it’s mostly sky—subways have windows on all sides showing constantly changing environments.
You can’t fake that.
When they finally shot opening scenes at Berlin’s real Hauptbahnhof station on a busy Monday morning, even the Berlin-based crew couldn’t tell which parts were filmed on set versus on location.
I knew we were onto something when the real life Berliners were fooled.
The Retro Control Room
One semi-fictional element? The U-Bahn control center where Berlin police track the hijacked train.
In real life, Berlin’s control room is full of dry digital screens—not exactly cinematic. But during a station visit, Smith discovered something better: the old analog system still exists beneath plastic sheets in mothballed rooms.
It featured twinkling lights, physical representations of train locations, and humming relays—a stark contrast to Season 1’s sleek digital air traffic control.
It was analog, and the machine was humming and clicking and bleeping… This is the opposite of that: It’s relays and switches, and it’s things that you can hear.
A Darker Visual Palette
Season 1 was bright and airy—luxury airline vibes. Season 2 leans into greens, browns, and grays to reflect both Berlin’s brutalist architecture and Sam’s deteriorating mental state.
He’s trapped in a literal and metaphorical maze. He’s trying to find his way out. He’s trying to get to the light.
The trains themselves are bursts of yellow cutting through gray landscapes—visual symbols of hope piercing darkness.
What About Season 3?
Plane in Season 1. Train in Season 2. Automobile in Season 3?
Smith laughed at the suggestion but didn’t rule anything out.
I’d watch Idris Elba peel an egg, and that’s not going to make a good season either… If we do bring him back, I’m sure we’ll find some way to put him through hell again.
For now, fans can see Sam Nelson’s next impossible situation when Hijack Season 2 premieres January 14 on Apple TV.