'Hijack' ending explained: What happens to flight KA29?
After seven hours of real-time tension courtesy of AppleTV+'s Hijack, we finally know the fate of flight KA29.
Don't worry, the passengers — including Idris Elba's Sam Nelson — landed outside London, mostly unscathed. But the final descent was anything but a smooth ride. Between several near-death experiences, tons of negotiating from Sam, and some major last-minute twists, Hijack's Season 1 finale "Brace Brace Brace," is a non-stop stress fest.
On top of all the thrills, "Brace Brace Brace" also answered some of our most burning questions from the season. Who was the woman who killed KA29's pilot at the very end of episode 6? What was the hijackers' endgame? Did Sam's family survive the ordeal they faced on the ground? Let's break it down.
Who is Amanda, the woman who killed Hijack's pilot?
The penultimate episode of Hijack hit us with a major plot twist in its final minutes. Up until that point, hijacker Stuart (Neil Maskell) had been calling the shots. Yet as the hostage prisoners finally rise up against him and his cronies, a new threat arises in the form of Amanda (Holly Aird). She doesn't have the biggest role earlier in the season — you'll recognize her as the woman Sam comforted at the very beginning of the hijacking. Still, she quickly becomes a major player when she shoots and kills Captain Allen (Ben Miles) and takes control of the plane. Naturally, we had questions. Was this a new stage to the original hijacking plan? Or was this a hijacking of a hijacking?
Turns out, it was a little bit of both. Stuart and the other hijackers did not know about Amanda's involvement in the plan. However, she, like them, is working for Edgar Janssen (Simon McBurney) and John Bailey-Brown (Ian Burfield), the criminals who were released from prison as part of the hijackers' demands. Their criminal syndicate, the Cheapside Firm, is holding Amanda's daughter Elodie hostage, so she must do as they say if she wants Elodie to live. As "Brace Brace Brace" opens, her instructions include using her experience as a naval aviation consultant to turn off KA29's autopilot and change its flight path.
What is Hijack's villains' final plan, and why does it involve a "bear raid"?
Up until this point in Hijack, the hijackers' only demand has been to release Edgar and John from prison. Now that the two of them are out, a new, even more sinister plan comes to light. As the story of flight KA29's hijacking gets major press coverage, Kingdom Airlines' stock price starts dropping rapidly. As one government official explains, Edgar and John's plan wasn't just to get out of jail: It was to conduct a bear raid. That's when you short a stock, then spread negative information about the relevant company in order to tank the stock. By betting against the plummeting stock, you end up making a ton of money.
The Cheapside Firm set the bear raid in motion by roping KA29 passenger Alec (Justin Salinger) into their scheme. They're holding his partner hostage, just like they're doing to Amanda's daughter, forcing him to comply with their demands, which were twofold. First, he had to conduct the short trade on the morning of KA29's flight. Then, he had to bring the guns onboard the flight. Remember how Hijack's first episode made a huge deal of Alec running late through the airport and almost missing the flight? Now we know why.
After Edgar and John got rich quick from their bear raid, they were supposed to send Amanda a text telling her to try to land the plane, meaning that Elodie is safe. However, Edgar doesn't send the text, waiting instead to make as much money as possible. After all, the best outcome for him is the worst outcome for the plane: a crash. In the end, John doesn't take kindly to Edgar's stalling and murders him outright before fleeing the scene. The text to Amanda remains unsent.
How does the plane land in Hijack?
Without that all-important text, Amanda keeps flying the plane... straight toward central London. KA29's new flight path causes panic within the government, and the Royal Air Force deploys fighter jets to take the plane down. Luckily for Sam and all our passengers, Foreign Minister Louise (Hattie Morahan) convinces the Prime Minister not to fire on British Civilians.
Meanwhile, Sam shows why he's the business world's greatest negotiator and gets Amanda to let him into the cockpit, asking her what Elodie would want. (According to Stuart, Elodie is likely already dead, lending even more tragedy to Amanda's day.) From there, air traffic controller Alice (Eve Myles) helps find a suitable runway for KA29 to land on, even as it burns up the last of its fuel. Amanda enlists Sam to help her with the landing, and just like that, KA29's passengers are safe on British soil — well, as safe as one can be in a burning airplane.
Everyone hurries off the plane, apart from Sam, who just casually goes back for the Gucci bracelet he bought for his ex-wife Marsha (Christine Adams). Sir, the plane is on fire, the gift can wait! This baffling choice has major consequences, as it traps Sam in the plane with a very angry Stuart, who has gotten free of his bonds and is hell-bent on taking Sam down with him. However, Sam hasn't gotten this far only to get stomped out now. He distracts Stuart with a decoy ringing phone long enough for the armed forces to break into the plane and arrest him. Still, let this be a lesson to you all: Follow the instructions on the aircraft safety card, and do not go back into a crashed plane for your belongings! It could save you from an unsafe plane — or a one-on-one fight with a hijacker.
How does Sam's son Kai escape the cleaners?
The passengers of KA29 may have escaped death, but they weren't the only ones in danger in Hijack. Sam's son Kai (Jude Cudjoe) finds himself trapped in his father's swanky apartment with two "cleaners" — murderers working for the Cheapside Firm. He calls the police from a landline, but the cleaners dissuade the police from coming in, and take Kai prisoner in the meantime.
Kai gets a call from Marsha's boyfriend Detective Daniel (Max Beesley), who's on the way to Sam's to make sure Kai is okay. With a gun to his head, Kai tells Daniel that he's fine and heading home — and that he'll be getting on his bike to get there. The bike mention is a callback to episode 1, when Kai tells Daniel he got a stationary bike so he and the other police won't pull him over for no reason while riding on the street. Daniel recognizes Kai's bike reference as a sign that something is wrong and hightails it over to Sam's place. One evacuation order later and Daniel and reinforcements are able to force the cleaners out of the apartment, apprehend them, and save Kai in the process. We don't see Sam reunite with his family, but by the end of the season, the Nelson clan is in the clear.
Will there be a Hijack Season 2?
Apple TV+ has not yet renewed Hijack for a second season. Plus, with flight KA29 safe and sound on the ground, the show has all the potential to be a neat, one-season-long arc. However, Elba has said he's "open" to Sam coming back, and Apple TV+ may very well want to continue to capitalize on the drama's popularity. With that in mind, there are a few new paths an upcoming season could explore.
First, we could see how Sam and his family recover from the fright of the hijacking — I would at least like to see Marsha's reaction to the Gucci bracelet, given how much trouble Sam went to to get it off a burning plane. But even more pressingly, a Season 2 could explore more of the search for John Bailey-Brown and the Cheapside Firm. Given that the syndicate knows who Sam is now, I'm sure they'd be all too keen on taking down the man who messed with their hijacking plan. Could we be in for a season of Sam on the run?