Fans of the popular AppleTV series “Hijack” starring Sir Idris Elba will be pleased to know that the long-awaited second season has finally hit the streaming platform on Jan. 14. Back as the smart and tactical Sam Nelson, Elba is once again bringing his signature intensity and charm to a show that’s already built a cult following.
Suggested Reading
And why wouldn’t it? Not only do we get to watch a beloved veteran actor kick a** and take names over the course of eight episodes this season, we also get to engage our minds in a criminal mystery series that doesn’t shy away from unexpected twists, heart-pounding scenes and storylines that keeps you engaged to the very end. Frankly speaking, it’s a show that makes us all super grateful that someone like Elba was able to find his way to Hollywood to grace our screens.
But much like his character on the show, his journey to achieve his goals wasn’t always easy. Speaking in a new interview with The Root, Elba reflected on how he had to overcome some hardships on his road to becoming an in-demand actor like depleting his savings and battling temporary homelessness.
“Earlier in my career, I was living in New York. I was trying to be an actor, I couldn’t get a job, I was spending my savings. I kind of lost my house to live. I mean it was tough,” Elba told The Root. “It was a real downward spiral and all the dreams that I had sort of started to fall away and I was like, ‘Ah, I’m never gonna make this dream work.’ And it was tough, you know?”
He continued, “It was a very tough time, [but] I’m glad I had the faith and belief to move out of that.”
And so are all his fans and the 6.8 million followers he boasts on Instagram alone. Could you really imagine the industry without our favorite Hollywood husband and actor? (We just might have to if he sticks with his plans to retire from acting soon, but that’s another convo for another day). Had he never pushed through, we would’ve never gotten all the amazing film and TV projects he’s given us over the course of his nearly 30-year long career. And we surely wouldn’t have gotten this high-octane level of a second season of “Hijack.”
Similar to the first season, Elba’s character has a major role to play when it comes to keeping some serious chaos from going down from this iteration’s villains. But seeing as how he has to embody being a good negotiator, put his body through some slightly physical stunts and keep his mental game sharp through high emotions, we had to ask Elba just how he was able to wade through the waters of those tense filming days and what, if anything, he did to center himself once he was done shooting.
“That show plays over seven hours, OK? So, for six months, I had to stay in this anxiety state. Trying to play that cat-and-mouse thing, trying to stay calm while this is going on. Now, not all of that was on the screen, but I had to remember where he is, what he’s doing, how he’s doing it. And it was a lot of brain energy, I’m not even gonna lie. It was a lot of brain energy,” Elba told The Root.
And what did he do to decompress, you ask? “I’d go home and play some video games and do something completely different.”
The first two episodes of “Hijack” Season two is available now on AppleTV.
Straight From 
Sign up for our free daily newsletter.