Warning: SPOILERS for Hijack season 1 finale!
Summary
- EP Hakan Kousetta discusses collaborating with Idris Elba on the thrilling series Hijack, praising Elba’s performance and magnetic presence.
- Kousetta explains that the unexpected twists in the show were inspired by lead writer George Kay’s desire to keep the story’s energy and momentum going.
- The decision to have Sam confront the main antagonist in the finale was important for resolving the emotional journey of the characters and providing a satisfying ending to the story.
In Hijack, skilled corporate negotiator Sam Nelson is on a seven-hour flight from Dubai to London that gets hijacked by a group of criminals. Sam must use his negotiating skills to try to keep himself and the other passengers alive while also thinking of strategies to retake control of the plane. However, as the flight gets closer to its destination, not all is as it seems, with the motivation of the hijackers and how many passengers are actually involved coming into question.
Hijack stars Idris Elba, who is also an executive producer on the series. Hijack was created by George Kay and Jim Field Smith. The action thriller also stars Archie Panjabi, Christine Adams, Max Beesley, Eve Myles, Neil Maskell, Kate Phillips, and Jasper Britton. Note: This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, and the show covered here would not exist without the labor of the writers and actors in both unions.
FilmmakerFocus caught up with executive producer Hakan Kousetta to talk about Hijack. He discussed Sam’s decision to get back on the plane in the Hijack finale and what Elba brought to the role. Kousetta also shared whether he’d like to see Hijack continue for a second season in some way.
Hakan Kousetta Talks Hijack
FilmmakerFocus: I love the show! Every time I watch it, I am on the edge of my seat, even though I know what’s coming. It is so great.
Hakan Kousetta: Oh, brilliant. I’m glad you love it. That’s so cool. Have you seen it all now? Have you watched the whole thing?
Yeah, I watched it a couple of times because I watched the screeners originally when we got them early, and then I’ve been watching it week by week as it comes out still.
Hakan Kousetta: Okay, that’s cool. I’ve been doing the same with my family actually. It’s quite surprising. Probably watched it about 100 times, but there’s still moments I get sort of caught up in the intricacy of it all and the energy of it all. And it’s hilarious. It’s so funny. We’ve got a family screening at seven tonight, actually. So it’s been quite, quite cool. Quite looking forward to that.
That’s awesome! I love that. Can you talk to me a little bit about collaborating with Idris Elba both as the lead of the series, but also as a producer?
Hakan Kousetta: He’s a lovely man. He’s been wonderful to work with. He came on the project quite early, actually, we were sort of developing it. In it’s sort of early stages and it was one of those perfect sort of marriages really. Where we started that the original project as a concept was just a one page idea that came from George Kay and Jim Fields Smith. So you have this sort of one page outline of a story about a plane being hijacked and they’re sort of central character, sort of outsmarting the hijackers in a kind of slightly ambiguous way. And it was one of those things that you instantaneously get, you see it straightaway.
And Apple had introduced us to Jim and George and sort of said, “Look, you guys should work together on this idea, because we think it’s really cool.” So we started that process, and it was in the middle of lockdown when we couldn’t physically spend any time with each other and not definitely not in enclosed rooms anyway. And so we’d meet in the park and have conversations about the show and walk these miles and miles around London parks to do it. And then as it sort of started to garner some shape Apple sort of facilitated the introduction of Idris to the porch because they had a deal with him Green Door.
And [Apple] said this could be something that he’d be interested in as well. He read the same thing I did, and instantaneously got it and said, “This could be amazing.” And so he came on really early. So it’s been a wonderful sort of collaborative experience to go through all of that, get the show into the shape that it was, and then ultimately film it. He was great partner.
And then the show has so many great twists. I thought the reveal of why the hijackers were actually doing this was so great and then that there were actually inside men on the plane. What kind of inspired some of those unexpected twists that we get throughout the series?
Hakan Kousetta: He’s a lovely man. He’s been wonderful to work with. He came on the project quite early, actually, we were sort of developing it. In it’s sort of early stages and it was one of those perfect
Hakan Kousetta: George, the lead writer on the show, always wanted to ensure that there was a real sense of propulsion to the story. We wanted to keep the energy going throughout the seven-hour real-time experience. I mean, if I told you to spend seven hours on a plane, you might find it dull, right? It’s a challenging proposition.
I’ve described Georgia as a Swiss clock maker. He’s brilliant at putting together intricate elements that work seamlessly. And one of those elements for the show was the element of surprise in each chapter. There would always be something unexpected, something you didn’t foresee.
And that’s what makes it so captivating and thrilling. You’re right there with Idris in those moments, suddenly realizing that things are not what they seemed. It’s like playing chess, where unexpected moves keep coming, and you have to find a way to deal with them. It’s just great.
It’s an amazing aspect of the story that keeps the momentum going and keeps surprising the audience without making them feel silly. It’s not a rug pull, but a thrilling surprise.
I thought it was great. And then one of the moments I love in the finale is when Sam gets back on the plane, so why was it important to have him have that final confrontation instead of ending up with him negotiating for the landing?
Hakan Kousetta: Yeah, there was a lot of debate about how to end the story. It’s always a challenge to find the right ending, especially for a closed-ended series like this. The overall feeling was that after the emotional journey we’ve been on with the characters, it would feel unfinished if Sam’s character didn’t have a final showdown with Neil’s character. It was a way to resolve their relationship and also the story of what happens to the passengers on the plane.
It was definitely a big, satisfying moment. I thought it was so fun.
Hakan Kousetta: Yeah, he’s got him. It’s like, he’s done. You kind of need that. Otherwise, it would have been like, “Oh, we’ve landed, and that’s it.”
off, and then that’s it. It was a bit more to it.
Yes, I completely agree. And then what did Idris bring to the role of Sam that wasn’t necessarily on the page?
Hakan Kousetta: Oh, well, that sort of speaks for itself, really. His presence is so magnetic and he’s so captivating. I think it’s easy to underestimate the challenge of a role like that, because there’s huge sort of swathes of sequences where he’s not speaking. It’s all written on his face. It’s all in the performance of him inhabiting that character. I think he does an incredible job of like, you’re really with him for so much of that story, aren’t you? You really feel his anguish and his doubt.
There’s something really, I don’t know, slightly refreshing about that as well, I think, because he’s a bit of a throwback really isn’t a hero that doesn’t necessarily have to do a lot of talking. He doesn’t give a lot of speeches. He’s not sort of grandstanding. It’s just he acts with his presence and his sort of ingenuity, which I think is a great thing to pull off in terms of performance from Idris.
I agree. I was so impressed with how you guys balanced these really high stakes, action packed moments with these very intimate performances. I thought that was one of the coolest things of the show. And then, so this is obviously a closed series, but I’m curious. Would you be interested in kind of continuing this with different heroes in different high stakes situations like this?
Hakan Kousetta: Well, producers always want to do a second season. I’m never gonna say no to the proposition of that, but that’s a question for Apple. You should ask those guys, but we’d definitely be up for another season. Definitely.
About Hijack
When a plane from Dubai to London is hijacked Sam Nelson, a business negotiator with a knack for getting what he wants, steps up to try and find a way out of this. Over the course of the seven-hour flight, authorities scramble looking for answers on the ground while Sam and the other passengers do everything they can to survive as they try to find a way to take control back of the plane.
Make sure to also check out our Hijack interview with Idris Elba.
Get ready for an exciting binge-watch! All 7 episodes of the thrilling series Hijack are now available on Apple+.
Source: FilmmakerFocus Plus
