Hijack Season 2： Idris Elba on How Trading a Plane for a Train Raises the Stakes (Exclusive)

This train has been hijacked. OK, there are over 200 passengers. And if you do not do exactly what they say, then you will all die. We've had Sam on a hijacked plane and now he's on a hijacked underground train. It just seems like trouble keeps following him somehow. Do you think he should perhaps stop travelling for a bit? I think so, I do. We'll just get a little scooter and just ride around on his skateboard or something. Slow down. The first episode dropped today with the action shifting to Berlin. Idris, who scored an Emmy nomination for season one, finds himself negotiating on a hijacked underground train. I think planes are claustrophobic, I think trains are claustrophobic, and I think that ultimately as you're a passenger, you're not in control. You got on that train or plane to get from one point to the other and then suddenly something else happens. And, you know, it's a really good device to build natural claustrophobia, natural being out of control. As a viewer, as an audience, you're sitting there going, that could be me. I take that train, I take that plane, you know, and it has served as a really good fulcrum to tell these stories. I think this season, though, we're really following what happened after the plane. Who, why, what, when, and how's Sam Nelson involved in all of this? And that's the golden thread between the first season and the second season. I think that the way we layer it, you're going, what? And you're always asking. And I think people in the first season were saying, well, how, why, what, and they're always asking questions. And some of those questions are answered and some are not. And some, they misdirect the audience. And in this season, we do the same. If you listen to me, I can get you out of this. After you filmed the series, did you perhaps yourself become a tiny bit more alert with what's happening around you? I travel a lot, right, I'm on planes, and, you know, definitely more aware. More so than, you know, alert, more observational, because, you know, in the lead-up to season one, there was a lot of attention paid to, you know, what was it really like to be on a plane? What are the things that we could use as a device for story? And now, so naturally, when I sit on a plane, look at that, look at that, look at him, look at her, you know, it's just natural. Are you not an anxious traveler, or would you say that you are? I'm not, no. I tend to travel so much that it's like, ooh, I'll try and stay calm. As for season three? I like puzzles, but, no, I don't think there'll be another hijack. There may be more hijacks with different people. These things happen all over the world, but I don't think Sam Nelson will be involved. Idris is booked and busy with nine projects in the works, including a return to Luther. The fifth season of the crime drama wrapped up in 2019, but Idris has signed on to bring detective John Luther back for a feature film. There'll be a lot more where this comes from. Why are you coming back to the character? What is it about the character? Unfinished business. I love Luther. You know, he's an old-school detective, but I do think that the film offers us a little larger playpen than TV shows, so I can't wait.