Hijack season 2 ending explained: Did Sam survive?

*Warning: This article contains full spoilers for the eighth and final episode of Hijack season 2.*

The second season of Hijack started on quite the whirlwind as we not only got thrown in headfirst into yet another hijacking situation, but it was also revealed that Sam (Idris Elba) was actually the one orchestrating the whole thing.

Since that fateful reveal, we've been on quite the rollercoaster as Sam's true intentions become clear that he's only trying to get answers about his son's death and also, protect Marsha (Christine Adams) from danger. We also had the return of Neil Maskell's season 1 villain Stuart, with plenty being revealed about him in this final episode too.

On his return, series co-creator Jim Field Smith told Radio Times: "It was really important to bring Stuart back because at the end of season 1, there's a lot of unanswered questions, there's a lot of unfinished business and Stuart probably represents the pinnacle of that unfinished business.

"This guy hurt [Sam's] family and chose to hurt his family and vice versa, Stuart was thrown under the bus by his higher-ups in season 1 and he feels like he's got unfinished business too."

But did Sam survive in the Hijack season 2 finale? Read on for a full breakdown.

Hijack season 2 ending explained: Did Sam survive?

In short – yes, Sam is alive and well by the end of the Hijack season 2 finale despite plenty of close calls.

It turns out that while it looked as though Sam had hijacked the train, he'd actually been instructed to do so after being told that Marsha was in danger. The only way to secure her safety was to hijack a train, get the German authorities to cooperate and bring him season 1's other villain John Bailey-Brown (Ian Burfield), who Sam believed had killed his son Kai.

Well, while it seemed totally plausible that John had killed Kai, it was actually revealed to be Stuart. Pulling plenty of strings from behind bars, Stuart had been working with MI5 agent Robert Lang (Arsher Ali) and together, they'd been the ones to convince Sam to hijack an underground train in Berlin. But why? Well, Stuart blamed both Sam and John for his life in prison and getting in the way of his fledgling OCG career.

Stuart's plan was simple – blame John for Kai's death when Stuart was the one to give the orders, ensure both Sam and John were in the same place, blow it up and kill them both.

Speaking about the overarching plot of Kai's death and Stuart's involvement to TV Insider, Field Smith revealed: "We like the idea that maybe Sam got a little bit too close to the truth. And so Stuart, they whack Kai as a warning, but also as something that they can deploy against him in future.

"So the idea is that Stuart orders Kai to be killed probably by Lang or Lang probably helped organise it for sure. It was a hit and run accident, but it’s clearly been orchestrated by shadowy forces and Lang would be the obvious person there, and then they’re able to use that against Sam basically because he’s motivated by grief."

He added: "We were going through all these different possibilities of what it could be, and then we liked the idea that yeah, Stuart is playing dumb and that actually Stuart’s orchestrated the entire thing from this sort of almost impossible position of — he’s got complete deniability because he’s in prison."

Lang succeeds in bringing John onboard, with him being handcuffed to a pole, with Otto (Christian Näthe) and Sam quickly realising that something is awry here. Rather than going to the depot as planned, Otto goes back on the tracks instead and Robert goes on the hunt for both Otto and Sam.

Sam eventually hits the detonator, supposedly killing John who we believe is still cuffed on the train. Sam and Otto make it out alive, as does Robert. Sam chases after Robert but they are intercepted by armed police, who tell them to stop where they are and put their hands up.

Sam does but Robert turns around to Sam as his phone rings, telling Sam that "he's never going to stop", referring to Stuart. Although police warn Robert several times not to move, he finally does so and is shot dead by police.

Meanwhile, Marsha also makes it out alive after starting a fire to attract attention from nearby helicopters and police but it also attracts the very killers who are trying to hunt her down. Thankfully, the police get to her just in time and Marsha is fine, after all her running away.

The U-Bahn control room is back to normal, everything is all good and peace has been restored. Finally, we see that Sam is approached by Olivia (Clare-Hope Ashitey), who informs him that Marsha is alive and on the phone to speak to him. They finally speak and all appears well, although we don't know what the consequences will be for Sam who, after all, did hijack a train.

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