Back in 2023, Apple TV’s Hijack was a surprise hit. Starring Idris Elba as some sort of extremely talented freelance business negotiator (he has a particular set of skills, don’t you know), while heading home to try to win back his estranged wife, he got stuck in a hostage situation on a plane traveling from Dubai and London. Fast-moving, endlessly creative, and slickly produced and filmed, notwithstanding the familiar plot (you’ve seen Die Hard, Under Siege, Speed, etc, right?) Hijack thrilled critics and became one of the biggest hits in the streamer’s history. So naturally Apple TV greenlit a second season. Now set on a German subway train instead of a high-end airplane, Hijack Season 2 is, despite an as-always engaging central performance by Elba, too slow, too furious to make the same sort of impact.
It’s unfortunate, because all the warning signs were there. Sure Die Hard 2: Die Harder has fun with John McClane (Bruce Willis) inexplicably getting stuck in the same situation, on Christmas, yet again. But per the aforementioned Die Hard knockoffs, Speed just couldn’t hit the same mph with a sequel set on a cruise ship. And Under Siege changing from a battleship to a train for the sequel Dark Territory seems like a very specific warning Hijack Season 2 completely ignored.
Look, it’s not like there are a lot of places to go on an airplane, either, but the first season of Hijack found a slew of ways to utilize the space, from communicating through the online games, to passing notes from first class to economy via flight attendants. There’s also the fact that a plane hijack is, unfortunately, something we all know and understand… It’s a fear most people have when going on an airplane, and is therefore universally relatable: what would you do in this situation?
A German subway hijack, though? It happens, and has happened as recently as February of 2025, with a subway employee telling Berliner Zeitung it is an “increasing problem.” But – nothing against the good people of Berlin – it’s less globally relatable, and because of that Hijack needs to spend a fair amount of time bringing audiences up to speed on how German subways work, and the mechanics of that.
The exposition-heavy script is the least of the worries, though, as even if you happen to live in Berlin and fear train hijackings daily… There’s just less to do on a subway train than on an airplane, and that’s a big problem when you’re crafting a drama. There’s the engineer’s room, and there are subway cars, and that’s pretty much the whole thing. Like with Season 1, Hijack attempts to eke drama from the passengers caught in the hijack. But given they’re all clustered inside several extremely similar looking subway cars, you don’t even get the cultural strata of first class passengers versus those jammed into Economy. There’s a touring school group that barely makes an impact, a couple whose whole character arc can be broken down to “they are old,” and several others who flit in and out of the action.
That puts even more than usual on Elba’s capable shoulders, but – without spoiling the twists and turns here – Sam spends most of the season extremely bummed out. Rather than watching him calculate the odds in his head and turn the tables on his captors, Season 2 Sam is one big resigned sigh, mostly focused on keeping the train literally and figuratively on track rather than working his way out of this mess. That’s a problem, because as an audience we want to root for Elba – and Sam. But even he doesn’t seem to want to be involved in what’s going on all season long.
The filming style of the season also reflects this, perhaps delving into the serious German tone of it all versus the slick gloss of a Dubai aircraft. But that was one of the joys of the first season, that it pushed back against the increasingly murky look of streaming series… Hijack Season 2, meanwhile, dives right into it, preferring a color palette characterized by browns and dark greens to parallel the underground setting. It’s still well filmed, and in particular the U-Bahn control room with its blinking lights and old-school subway tracking board that seems right out of the ‘70s is neat to look at. But most of the action is focused on the train, and after the umpteenth time traveling through cars (the full eight-episode season was provided for critics) and stopping at similar looking subway stations, visually it feels repetitive.
Season 2 also works overtime to bring most of the cast back, with the exception of Eve Myles’ bright light as air traffic controller Alice Sinclair, who wouldn’t make a lot of sense here. Christine Adams returns as Marsha, and while she’s a grounded presence she also spends most of the season depressed and wandering through the woods, instead of wandering a subway train like Sam. Toby Jones, meanwhile, makes a welcome new presence as a British intelligence officer investigating the season’s central mystery from the other side of the Chunnel. And Lisa Vicari is also good as the German subway operator communicating with the train; basically picture a German blonde Reginald VelJohnson from Die Hard, and you get the gist.
But as how the show spends too much time upending what people liked about Season 1 to seemingly subvert expectations, they also lean far too much into tying the plot back to Season 1 versus making the new hijack its own thrilling adventure.
Earlier, I mentioned one of the rare successes in the annals of unnecessary action sequels was Die Hard 2, and a large part of that is leaning into the ridiculousness of “can you believe this is happening again?” Hijack Season 2 is way too angry and serious, and spends far too much time with the main characters putting the pieces together while justifying why this is all happening again. Spoiler: it’s happening again because Apple TV greenlit a second season, and that’s all the reason you need! Season 1 allowed the characters to play to the top of their intelligence, and always be one step ahead of each other no matter what – which is part of the fun of the genre. Here, everyone is always one step behind. And unfortunately, Hijack Season 2 is as well. Perhaps this is one train that should have never left the station.
Hijack Season 2 Premiere Dates And Episode Guide:
New episodes of Hijack technically premiere Wednesdays on Apple TV, though given time zones in the United States new episodes will hit the service at 9pm ET / 6pm PT on Tuesdays. We’ve listed the Wednesday dates below, just for posterity.
Here’s what we expect from the full list of episodes in Hijack Season 2 with premiere dates.
- Wednesday, January 14, 2026: Hijack, Season 2, Episode 1
- Wednesday, January 21, 2026: Hijack, Season 2, Episode 2
- Wednesday, January 28, 2026: Hijack, Season 2, Episode 3
- Wednesday, February 4, 2026: Hijack, Season 2, Episode 4
- Wednesday, February 11, 2026: Hijack, Season 2, Episode 5
- Wednesday, February 18, 2026: Hijack, Season 2, Episode 6
- Wednesday, February 25, 2026: Hijack, Season 2, Episode 7
- Wednesday, March 4, 2026: Hijack, Season 2, Episode 8 *Season Finale*
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