Hostage ending explained: Who was behind the kidnap plot and what happens to Abigail?

The climax saw Abigail not only fight for survival but also reckon with the consequences of decisions made years earlier in Belize, choices that resurface with haunting clarity in the present. And while the immediate threat is resolved, the fallout for her family – particularly her daughter Sylvie (Isobel Akuwudike), whose shocking actions in the final moments changed everything – is only just beginning.

For creator Matt Charman, that was always the point. "When I think about the show, I don’t really think about Alex, I think more about the two leaders, I think of Suranne and Julie [Delpy]’s characters," he told RadioTimes.com. “They’re the hostages, they’re the ones being held and they’re the ones that are being blackmailed. So it’s really about riffing on that word ‘hostage’ — what does it mean to be under someone else’s control? So I think that’s where I would kind of explore further."

It’s a finale that ties up the central conspiracy while leaving deep scars on Abigail’s household – and, with its closing flash-forward, sets the stage for her boldest political gamble yet.

Read on for a full breakdown of the finale of Hostage, with some additional insight from the cast and series creator/writer Matt Charman.

Read more: 15 tense political thrillers to binge after watching Hostage

Hostage ending explained: Who was behind the kidnap plot?

The finale starts with a flashback to many years prior, where Abigail and Alex (Ashley Thomas) are hosting a birthday party for young Sylvie.

It's interrupted by a surprise phone call, which Abigail – who worked as a junior minister at the Foreign Office at the time – takes in private. She's told that there's an escalating situation unfolding in Belize and they need an immediate decision over the evacuation of British troops.

As the most senior minister available, she's told that her clearance is needed to leave behind the Belizean locals who have been assisting British troops. Although it's a tough decision and one she knows could result in the death of the locals, she orders for the British planes to be put in the air quickly.

In the present, we see Abigail and her family being rushed into an underground bunker. Although Abigail is relatively alright, the same can't be said for Vivienne, who unfortunately died in the blast.

Shagan's (Martin McCann) plot to blow up Downing Street was a rogue step and one not authorised by the person who's been pulling the strings of this operation all along: General Livingstone (Mark Lewis Jones).

In a tense phone call, it's revealed that Livingstone has actually been planning to take down Abigail for months. He admits that, although he never has wanted her dead, he has wanted her out of the way.

Once Shagan learns that Abigail is actually alive, his plans to get out of the country change. Saskia (Sophie Robertson) starts becoming increasingly confused about the direction the plan is going in, especially seeing as Shagan lied about the orders to blow up Downing Street.

Plans are made to evacuate Alex and Sylvie to a secure location with Matheo (Corey Mylchreest), who has a place that his friend said he could use. Once they're gone, Abigail reassembles her team (Ayesha, Zadie, Tristan and Kofi) as she realises this has always been a coup plot.

Once they start digging into things, they realise the crossover between Shagan and Livingstone, with Abigail recognising Shagan from the press conference before the bomb exploded and Ayesha recognising him from CCTV footage of the riots.

They find out that Shagan was a solider deployed to Belize but was medically downgraded due to mental health and depression. Abigail informs her team about her orders to extract troops but still holds guilt about leaving locals behind. But knowing Shagan won't have been able to pull off this whole plan by himself, they soon realise that Livingstone was his commanding officer in Belize.

Abigail travels with her team to confront Livingstone herself at the Ministry of Defence, with Livingstone implicating himself by revealing his intel about the laptop. He explains that it's all been because of his growing frustration at Abigail's military budget cuts, which, in his words, leave the UK "exposed and vulnerable".

Livingstone is removed and placed in custody by order of Ogilvy, who is the interim prime minister.

Back at the hideout mansion, Shagan and Saskia break in and hold Alex, Sylvie and Matheo hostage. Shagan forces Alex to call Abigail so he can order her to come to the house as well. As she arrives, Saskia finds out that Matheo has made a silent 999 call and the pair get into a fight, allowing Sylvie to run free. A police unit is dispatched but Saskia hands the phone to Matheo willingly and runs away.

What happens to Abigail?

Abigail arrives in the living room, where Shagan is holding Alex at knifepoint, and it's then that Shagan reveals his motivations for wanting Abigail dead. He tells her that his fiancée was a local translator in Belize and was left behind to be, at the behest of a local government, shot and killed while she was six months pregnant.

The police arrive and, with mounting pressure, Alex runs at Shagan to try and get the knife out of his hands. Abigail screams for help as the armed police officers make their way to the house, but Sylvie is seen approaching the room with the gun she stole from Saskia.

She bursts in with the gun pointed at Shagan, who starts to goad her into shooting him. He admits to killing her grandfather (James Cosmo) and continues to taunt her about it, which leads Sylvie to shoot him. In shock, we then see the police enter the room and handcuff Sylvie, leaving a shaking Abigail and Alex to see Shagan take his last breath.

Speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com about the surprise killing of Shagan by Sylvie, Jones said: "When you get to the very end, what happens with Sylvie is shocking because the cost of what Abigail and her family have had to go through for what she wants to achieve for the country and to not stand up to terrorists is huge. But she didn’t give in, she’s a fighter.

"I think we will judge her because she’s a woman and the choices that she makes in this, but I also think that’s really interesting."

We then flash forward by three months and things seem to be relatively alright for Abigail and her family as she prepares to make an official announcement outside Downing Street.

Asking for reassurance from her husband and daughter, she goes out to deliver the message that she will be calling a general election in order to create a new mandate to help fix the country and create more honesty between her and the public.

Who dies at the end of Hostage?

The finale starts off with the news that Vivienne died in the explosion at Downing Street, but by the end of the finale, Shagan also dies at the hands of Sylvie.

While some viewers may be left wondering if he actually is dead, series creator Matt Charman assures us that he definitely thinks Shagan is gone for good.

Chatting exclusively with RadioTimes.com, Charman revealed: "I think Shagan’s dead. It was completely intentional around Sylvie because I think, truthfully, those ripples are... they never stop.

"If you do that, if you’re in a situation where you do something that completely crosses a line as human being, there’s no end to that trauma or that sense of who am I now, who was I before? That would be fun to explore, what that does to a person as they enter adulthood."

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