Idris Elba explains “hard to shoot” Hijack fight scenes

Speaking to RadioTimes.com and other media at a press conference for the new series, Idris Elba – who leads the cast and is an executive producer for the series – revealed that it was far from an easy shoot.

He said: "By design, we didn’t take this plane apart and make it easier for us to shoot. We designed all the action sequences with what we’ve got."

On how difficult it was for him as a "big man" to navigate such enclosed settings as his character, Sam Nelson, Elba said: "Sam does a lot of sneaking around the plane, but me sneaking around is like, 'Bro, what are you doing? We can see you.' It meant I had to get even lower or figure out another way. Again, adds to the drama and reality of this thing."

Of course, the general hijack plot of the series is revealed in the show's title so viewers can not only expect plenty of tense moments, but also some grisly fight scenes.

Talking about filming those, Elba said: "The fight sequences were certainly hard to shoot, they were choreographed within the space. If we hurt ourselves, we just took a breather and carried on.

"Not to say that we didn’t care, but we didn’t try to change the choreography not to hurt ourselves because in this instance, the fight sequence was based on ‘what would we do' rather than 'this is a fight sequence’.

"One of the memorable ones for me is the one with Neil [Maskell]’s character, this gun and this tiny kitchen space. I’m a big man so it just wasn’t easy to manoeuvre around and fight this guy, especially if my character’s not a fighter and [is] fighting out of desperation."

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Elba added: "It was all this stuff that was part of the design, the action, and I think really puts the audience in that.

"We’ve all been on a plane, we’ve all sat in a chair and looked over and seen a person from that perspective, we’ve all looked behind us, and that’s what Jim [Field Smith] really designed well and implemented in the action sequences.”

If you're wondering whether or not the show is actually hiding more ample space than you can see on camera, it isn't - according to Hijack co-creator and director Field Smith himself. He revealed: "The plane you see in the show is a millimetre for millimetre replication of an airplane.

"We sort of made it as hard for ourselves as we possibly could and hope that translates on screen into something that feels convincing, but at the same time, tried to make it look as engaging and try to pull you into the drama as much as possible."

The tense thriller debuts on Apple TV+ from tomorrow (Wednesday 28th June 2023), with episodes being released weekly, and follows Elba's Sam Nelson, a mysterious business negotiator who is on board a hijacked plane that's making its way to London over the course of a seven-hour flight.

The series plays out in real time across seven episodes – to emulate the seven hours of the plane journey – and also follows the on-the-ground teams that are scrambling for answers.

The cast boasts the likes Elba as well as Archie Panjabi, Max Beesley, Eve Myles and Ben Miles.

Hijack debuts on Wednesday 28th June on Apple TV+ – sign up now with a 7-day free trial. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on.

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