Abhiroop Das
Co-created by Jim Field Smith and George Kay, ‘Hijack’ returns to Sam Nelson as he struggles with the aftermath of the events that took place in the previous season. Even though he survived the incident, the fact that the man responsible for impressing this trauma upon him was never caught keeps him restless and searching. In the second season of this hijack thriller series, Sam embarks on a train journey, looking at everything with a paranoid eye. Soon his fears become true when he finds himself caught at the centre of another hijacking. On the edge of losing his hold on what is right and what is wrong, whether he will survive this train hijacking and finally finish his quest for justice or submit to the worst fate possible, envelops every twist and turn of the story. To that end, the train journey itself becomes the primary thread of the narrative, playing a major role in deciding Sam’s fate.
Write George Kay’s Minor Train Scare Might Have Inspired the Fictional Events of Hijack Season 2
‘Hijack’ season 2 is a fictional story penned by writers Jim Field Smith, George Kay, and Guy Bolton, and does not have its basis in any real-life hijacking incident in Berlin. While that may be the case, the premise has existed since the show’s conception, in the form of a real experience George Kay had while on a train. Kay has recounted one of his experiences aboard the Eurostar, when the train abruptly stopped in the middle of a tunnel. While he remained calm throughout, several possibilities began to flash in his mind. Following this, he mentally scanned his fellow passengers, wondering how people would cope and respond if this were a serious incident. It is this cocktail of emotions that gave birth to Hijack season 1, and while that storyline takes place on a plane, Kay and his creative team brought things back full circle with season 2.
For Idris Elba, who essays Sam Nelson in the show, the transition from a plane to a train was a logical one, given the very nature of the show. “You can only hijack a method of transport,” the actor said in an interview with The TV Cave, before adding, “You can’t hijack a building.” The change also meant that season 2 would largely be filmed on a train replica built to scale, with the sense of claustrophobia and constant movement adding to the show’s immersion. Still, the fact that the crew created a train set only reiterates that the story is intended to be fictional, with a basis in Kay’s imagination. In real life, the U5 line in Berlin’s U-Bahn subway network has no recorded history of a hijacking incident, confirming the show’s crafted identity.
A Group of Teenagers Took Control of a U-Bahn Train in February 2025
While the premise of ‘Hijack’ season 2 may not have a direct base in reality, it is possible that it was partially inspired by incidents that have historically taken place in the U-Bahn system or other European railway networks. In particular, the 1977 Dutch train hijacking incident might have served as a vague reference point, given the similarities on display. On 23 May 1977, nine men pulled the emergency brake on a train near the village of De Punt, in the Netherlands, and took over 50 people hostage. The hijacking lasted over 20 days and ended with a raid by the Dutch special forces, during which six hijackers and two hostages died. Notably, this real-life case only bears a superficial resemblance to the show’s plot and is thus unlikely to be a basis.
As per reports, in February 2025, a group of teenagers was accused of hijacking the driver’s cabin of a U2 U-bahn train, leading to widespread chaos. The teenagers allegedly entered the cabin, which is situated at the train’s tail-end, and uncoupled the connecting carriage while the train was still moving. This brought the wagons to an immediate standstill, and all passengers on board were evacuated through a tunnel. Transit on both directions of the route were stopped for the day, and the teenagers were detained. As per an anonymous BVJ employee who spoke to Berliner Zeitung, people accessing the driver’s cabins has become a recurring issue in recent times, and that might have served as a partial source of inspiration for the team behind ‘Hijack,’ in terms of adding realism to the show.
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