Idris Elba is taking on hostage negotiations while in the open skies with the thriller series Hijack for Apple TV+.
Elba is starring in and executive producing the seven-episode limited-series that will be told in real time as a hijacked flight makes a seven-hour journey toward London and authorities on the ground search for answers. Elba will play Sam Nelson, an accomplished negotiator in the business world who tries to step up and use all his guile to save the lives of the passengers. His high-risk strategy, however, could prove his undoing.
George Kay is writing the series, and Jim Field Smith is attached to direct. Hijack received a straight-to-series order from Apple TV+ and is the first project to result from a first-look deal Elba and his Green Door Pictures signed with the tech giant in 2020.
Kay and Field Smith will serve as executive producers on “Hijack” alongside Elba, Jamie Laurenson and Hakan Kousetta of 60Forty Films and Kris Thykier. The series will be produced by 60Forty Films and Field Smith and Kay’s Idiotlamp Productions in association with Green Door.
Elba will next be seen in George Miller’s fantasy drama film “Three Thousand Years of Longing” alongside Tilda Swinton, which is set to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival next month. He has also wrapped on two more films: a feature-length adaptation of “Luther” for Netflix, which also stars Cynthia Erivo and Andy Serkis, and “Beast,” a film about a killer lion. Both projects are now in post-production.