Apple TV+ delivers a taut and action-packed original miniseries with Hijack, debuting June 28 and guaranteed to keep audiences at the edge of their seats. Starring and executive produced by Idris Elba, the show follows airline passenger Sam Nelson as he finds himself in the midst of a mid-flight hijacking while en route from Dubai to London. Tensely playing out in real-time, the seven-episode series has Sam realize he has to find a way to work with the hijackers to ensure his and the passengers' safety without relying on physical force.
In an interview with CBR, Hijack star and executive producer Idris Elba revealed the origins of the series, detailed how he wants the project and his role to differentiate from his past performances, and teased what audiences can expect from the thriller as Hijack takes flight on Apple TV+.
CBR: Hijack is the first project between Green Door Pictures and Apple TV+. What attracted you to this project, not only starring in it but also executive producing this series?
Idris Elba: George Kay, the writer, is attractive to me. I think he's amazing. He's done Lupin, and just his career as a writer, I find interesting and fresh, familiar but unique. I liked the idea of working with him, and I also liked the idea of taking something quite simple -- it's no mystery here, it's called Hijack -- and it's not what you think. I really loved that, and it's a bit like me! I'm an actor, but I'm not what you think.
I just thought that it was well-articulated and well-programmed. How do I keep you in a place where you're like, "What the fuck is going on?" and also asking yourself what you'd do in that situation.
There are many layers to Sam Nelson, and you quickly get the feeling he's more at home in a crisis than in his daily life. Was there any line in George's script that helped you find your performance?
It was more about what he doesn't say, actually. Those moments when his wife or the situation at home is like, "Don't come, there's nothing for you here," and he says, "Too late." It is too late. He's committed, and he wants to try and fix it, but he is too late, unfortunately. What you see is a man realizing he's too late, and now his life is being taken away from him. It's like when you're very ill, and you start to question the things you haven't done right.
That was attractive to me and made me want to try to have a go at pulling this story and playing a character that isn't an action hero. He isn't an ex-Marine. He's just someone who thinks with his head.
What about Jim Field Smith? How was it having him behind the camera?
Great! He's a really good director -- really thoughtful, very talented, and brilliant. I'm really inspired by Jim because he's also a drummer. He's in a band. [laughs] He's a good writer, he's very funny and does comedy, and he taught me a lot. He's really good.
I'm fascinated by what Sam doesn't say, and in some ways, his scenes are more of a tension break compared to all the yelling and guns going on around him. Yet, at the same time, there's a lot going on under the surface. How did you want to approach that dichotomy?
I wanted to try to avoid tropes and stuff where that character is like, "I know what to do!" He's a bit more like, "I have to think through this." I'm more interested in being vulnerable, if you like, with his emotions. I wanted the audience to experience [that feeling of], "Sit down, or you might get shot!" I was looking at the playback going, "This guy is going to get himself shot. He doesn't know what he's doing." At the same time, he does. He's been really clever.
When I was doing my research about people doing mergers and acquisitions, they're sitting in this room going, "You want to buy this company?" They're such manipulators, and they're very clever, psychologically, at understanding human behavior to get you to pay a little bit more for that company by leaning into your weaknesses a little bit more [to] get you to like them. It's interesting.
I'm aware [that] I'm speaking with someone who played a literal Star Trek villain, but do you find these types of roles more fulfilling, or is it just a different set of muscles that you use as an actor?
Same anatomy, different muscle set. That's what's really attracted me to acting. I never wanted to play one role. I just thought, "What's the point of doing that?" Of course, people see my size, my anatomy, and who I am, and they go, "Yeah, tough guy, sports guy, boss, or whatever." I find it so much more interesting to subvert that and at least try to do something different, and that's about casting. I find the way to get people to not be sure what I'm going to do is to play a spectrum of characters.
Turn Up Charlie was very close to the bone for you. How did you want Hijack to stand out from the rest of Green Door's production slate and your own body of work?
It's acting, but I've done a hundred films, and I want to deliver a little piece of myself in each one of them somehow. For Green Door to be a part of this and this team, 60Forty Films are great producers and have done a lot of great TV, and obviously, so have Jim and George. For Green Door, it was the opportunity to do something more water-coolery. We want this to be a show that people are talking about, that they binged it, watched it, and really got into it. Turn Up Charlie is great but in a different way.
Idris, is there anything else you can tease ahead of Hijack's premiere on Apple TV+?
I can say that it is a page-turner and that the end of this story is not the end.
Created by George Kay and Jim Field Smith, Hijack premieres June 28 on Apple TV+, with new episodes released Wednesdays.