[Spoilers] Hijack is back, and Season 2 wastes no time reminding viewers that nothing with Sam Nelson is ever what it seems. Idris Elba returns with a colder, more calculated energy in the Season 2 premiere, shifting the series from airborne chaos to something arguably more claustrophobic: a train speeding through Berlin.
From the opening moments, the episode plants unease everywhere. You’re not told exactly what’s wrong but you feel it.
The premiere opens with a packed train full of competing tensions. There’s a man acting so suspicious that police intervene mid-ride, a group of students on what appears to be a school trip, with one visibly panicked boy struggling with claustrophobia. Add in a woman who won’t stop talking to Sam, and the atmosphere feels overloaded. It’s the environment where danger breathes.
Sam, as always, is calm. Too calm. The suspicious man eventually gets removed from the train, but not before Sam subtly inserts himself into the situation, nudging the police toward action. At the time, it reads like classic Sam Nelson behavior: observant, persuasive, quietly helpful. We’ve seen this version of him before. Or at least we thought we had.
Meanwhile, the train conductor continues to make us nervous. He’s visibly anxious, distracted, and leaves his post, an odd detail that grows more unsettling as the episode unfolds. It becomes clear that whatever is coming, he knows about it. And he’s terrified.
The tension finally snaps in the closing minutes. The train stops, but the doors don’t open. Passengers wait. Confusion spreads. Then the train starts moving again. Somewhere ahead, another man switches the tracks in the tunnel, allowing the train to turn off course. That’s when Sam makes his move.
He bangs on the conductor’s door, demanding that he open it. At first, it feels like he’s trying to stop a disaster. But then he pulls out a key. He opens the door himself.
And the truth hits. Sam didn’t help remove the police officer to keep passengers safe; he did it to clear his path. This isn’t a man reacting to a hijacking. He’s orchestrating it.
The reveal flips the entire episode on its head. Suddenly, every earlier interaction, the calm demeanor, the subtle manipulation, the way Sam was mixed into the chaos, feels deliberate. The question Hijack wants you asking isn’t just what’s happening, but who is Sam Nelson now? Episode one ends with that uncertainty hanging in the air.
A sneak peek at Episode 2, titled Control, suggests the psychological tension is only just beginning. In the clip, Sam and the train operator finally speak openly.
“We’re moving. This is good, right? It’s what you wanted,” the operator says.
“You knew what was involved when you took the money,” Sam replies.
“I just hope no one needs to get hurt,” the operator adds.
“Thank you. Me too,” Sam says.
Episode 2 promises to escalate the stakes as passengers begin to sense something is wrong and authorities race to respond. But the real tension now lies in Sam himself. Is he a villain? A strategist with a larger plan? Or someone playing a longer, darker game than we’re prepared for?
Hijack Season 2 Episode 2 premieres Wednesday, January 21. And yes, we’re fully tapped in.
Photo Credit: Apple TV
