This is how tough Idris Elba experienced the underground during the "Hijack" shoot

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• The Berlin subway is the setting for the second season of "Hijack", which can be seen on Apple TV+.
• Actor Idris Elba plays a passenger who wants to avenge the death of his son.
• "This city doesn't go easy on you," says the actor, describing the filming. Lots of movement, lots of people, lots of impressions - that's exactly what felt right for the series.

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Berlin becomes the nerve center of the second season of "Hijack", which has been available to watch on Apple TV+ since this week. Instead of above the clouds, the thriller now takes place underground - in the Berlin subway.

A conscious decision, as director Jim Field Smith explains: "You can't hijack a building - only a means of transportation."

After the first season on an airplane, it was clear to him that the sequel also had to take place in a location that everyone knows - and that creates confinement, dependency and loss of control. "In season two, they're trapped in a metal tube again - but this time it's speeding along under the city."

Series creator Jim Field Smith once lived in Berlin

The series creator had several reasons for choosing the German capital. Field Smith himself lived in the German capital as a child from 1989 to 1991 - a time of upheaval.

Director Field Smith lived in Berlin as a child from 1989 to 1991 - during a time of upheaval.

Image: Getty Images

"That was a formative phase - for the city and for me," says the 46-year-old. Germany has a special history of dealing with extreme situations, including the question of how authorities react to terror. It was precisely these cultural specifics that he wanted to use in the narrative.

Added to this is Berlin's unique topography. "The subway is full of history," explains Smith. Due to the division of the city, there are abandoned stations, ghost stations and hidden places. "The idea that Sam Nelson could lose himself physically and emotionally underneath this city was incredibly powerful."

Berlin is also the ideal place to deliberately take Sam, played by Idris Elba, out of his comfort zone: no home, no familiar language, no people to talk to.

Idris Elba plays a traumatized man

Lead actor Idris Elba himself also experienced Berlin intensely - especially underground. The film was partly shot directly on the tracks, at night, with sections of the subway closed. A central sequence was shot at Alexanderplatz.

"It's a bit like King's Cross in London - very big, very lively," says Elba. For him, Berlin was more than just a backdrop. "This city doesn't go easy on you," says Elba, describing his time there. Lots of movement, lots of people, lots of impressions - that's exactly what felt right for the series.

In terms of content, Sam Nelson is a different man in season two. There is a lot left unsaid between the events of the first season and the new start in Berlin.

Idris Elba dealt intensively with the after-effects of trauma - especially how men deal with it.

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