Idris Elba's Thriller Hits a Breaking Point in Tense 'Hijack' Sneak Peek [Exclusive]

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Idris Elba looking toward the camera while standing in a city in Hijack Season 2.

Published Feb 10, 2026, 12:04 PM EST

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Streaming audiences are clearly still hungry for claustrophobic, trapped-in-transit thrillers — and Hijack is once again answering that call. Apple TV has unveiled an exclusive clip from Episode 5 of Season 2, titled “Outage,” and it suggests things are about to get much worse before they get better. Premiering Wednesday, February 11, Episode 5 finds tensions on the Berlin underground train finally reaching a boiling point. As fear, anger, and frustration ripple through the trapped passengers, Idris Elba’s Sam Nelson comes to a frightening realization — one that could completely change how this crisis unfolds. The sneak peek leans hard into the show’s signature real-time pressure, making it clear that one wrong move could cost lives.

Season 2 shifts the action from the skies to the subway, but the formula remains brutally effective. Once again, Elba plays Sam Nelson, a corporate negotiator who keeps ending up in impossible situations. In Season 1, he was trapped aboard a hijacked flight. This time, he’s locked inside a speeding underground train with hundreds of commuters and no easy way out. The unsettling twist? There’s a growing sense that Sam may not be here by coincidence.

Created by George Kay and Jim Field Smith, Hijack Season 2 reunites Elba with returning cast members Christine Adams, Max Beesley, and Archie Panjabi, while adding new faces including Toby Jones, Lisa Vicari, Clare-Hope Ashitey, and Karima McAdams. Field Smith also returns as lead director, keeping the tension tight and relentlessly paced.

Why Did Idris Elba Make 'Hijack' Season 2?

Speaking prior to the release of the second season, Elba admitted it was truly a challenge to keep the tension up after changing the setting from a plane to a subway car:

“We wanted to find a way to keep the core tension, the claustrophobia. How do we do that? How do we keep the motion and the setup from the first season and make it make sense for the second? We landed on a train. It offers a lot of the same attributes. Then the question became how to build a story that connects logically from season one. It was a process of elimination. A train felt right.”

“It’s a TV show that has those old-school entertainment strands to it," he added. "Taking a character who goes through something like that and then figuring out how to follow up, examining his pain, his trauma, and the why of it all—it felt compelling. The second season is about understanding a little deeper how we got there in the first place. It's a compelling drama. We’re not changing the world. It’s escapism. But it lets us peel the onion back a little and get deeper into it.”

Hijack Season 2 is streaming now on Apple TV. Check out our sneak peek above and stay tuned at Collider for more.