‘Hijack’ Producer Talks Nail-Biting Finale, Whether Idris Elba Will Return for Season 2

variety.com:

K.J. Yossman SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers for the season finale of “Hijack,” which dropped on Aug.

4 on Apple TV+. “Will Kingdom Airlines Flight 29 land safely?” is the question that “Hijack” fans have been asking since the moment arch negotiator Sam Nelson (Idris Elba) first spotted a suspicious-looking toiletry bag being passed from one passenger to another in the aircraft’s plush first class cabin. (Or, in fairness, maybe even before that given the show is literally called “Hijack.”) Now, after five nail-biting weeks, audiences will finally find out whether Nelson has managed to outwit the hijackers.

To mark the season finale, “Hijack” executive producer Hakan Kousetta sat down with Variety to discuss fan reactions, that nerve-wracking ending and whether Elba is likely to return as Nelson for a second season. Firstly, what has the reaction been like to the series so far? It’s a very bingeable series, and the weekly release strategy of Apple is obviously wonderfully brilliant in terms of creating that watercooler conversation thing.

Every episode is a bit of a cliffhanger, and everyone’s doing that “Argh, they made me wait a week!” It’s really hard to express the amount of joy it brings when a show [resonates] with an audience on such a broad scale. When did 60Forty, the production company you founded with co-EP Jamie Laurenson, board the project? [Writer] George Kay and [director] Jim Field Smith came up with the idea of the show, like literally a one- page pitch almost.