Sam Nelson is back in the worst way possible. Apple TV has unveiled the first trailer for season two of “Hijack,” the tense real-time thriller starring and executive produced by Idris Elba, and this time the crisis moves from the skies to the tunnels: a Berlin underground train and its commuters are taken hostage while authorities above ground scramble to save hundreds of lives.
Created by George Kay (“Lupin,” “Criminal”) and Jim Field Smith (“Criminal,” “Litvinenko”), the eight-episode second season will premiere globally on Wednesday, January 14, 2026, with the first episode, followed by one episode weekly through March 4. Once again, Elba’s corporate negotiator Sam Nelson finds himself at the epicenter of a carefully orchestrated nightmare where one wrong decision could turn a hostage standoff into a mass-casualty disaster.
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Produced by 60Forty Films and Idiotlamp Productions, season two reunites much of the original ensemble — including Elba, Christine Adams, Max Beesley, and Archie Panjabi — while expanding the cast with Christian Näthe, Clare-Hope Ashitey, Lisa Vicari, Toby Jones, Karima McAdams, and Christiane Paul. Field Smith returns as lead director, with Kay and Field Smith again serving as executive producers alongside Jamie Laurenson, Hakan Kousetta, and Tom Nash.
Since its debut, “Hijack” has quietly become one of Apple TV’s flagship dramas, earning a Certified Fresh critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes and breaking into the Nielsen Streaming Originals Top 10. The first season was widely described as “a shot of pure adrenaline,” praised as a “crisp and tense” real-time thriller that kept viewers “on the edge of their seat,” with Elba singled out as a “commanding leading man.” The complete first season is currently streaming.
Season two looks poised to double down on that appeal: another contained, pressure-cooker scenario, a moving vehicle turned into a weapon, and a fixer whose biggest asset — his ability to read people and talk his way out of anything — might finally hit its limits. If the first season was about weaponizing negotiation at 30,000 feet, this one drags Sam into the claustrophobic, steel-and-concrete nightmare of a hijacked metro system.
“Hijack” season two premieres globally on Apple TV on January 14, 2026.
