Discover why Sam Nelson is the hijacker in Hijack Season 2: from the truth about his son Kai to the blackmail involving Marsha, John Bailey-Brown, and the real bomb on the train.
POST-FINALE UPDATE: This article was written after Episode 3 and reflects the version of the truth presented by the series mid-season. The truths revealed in the Hijack Season 2 finale have completely upended the theories presented in this initial analysis. While the early episodes led both the audience and Sam Nelson to believe in one version of the deception, the finale uncovers a much deeper, more personal architect behind the tragedy.
Read our full Hijack Season 2 Ending Explained: Stuart’s Revenge and the Truth about Kai.
As Hijack Season 2 progresses episode by episode, it becomes clear that the show is successfully living up to the high expectations set by its debut season. With every chapter, the mysteries deepen, clues are fed to the audience with calculated, slow-burning precision, and the truth takes shape before our eyes with great caution.
Naturally, several massive questions loom over the series. The biggest is obvious: why does Sam hijack the train in Hijack Season 2? Has he truly turned into a villain, or is there a deeper explanation that goes beyond appearances? The answer begins to clarify after Episode 3, and it is inextricably linked to Kai, Sam’s son. The audience has long wondered whether Kai dies in Hijack, and what role John Bailey-Brown—the overarching antagonist of both seasons—really plays in this new nightmare.
Now, the pieces are finally falling into place. It’s time to shed light on every aspect of the plot.
A Negotiator Without a Choice: Why Sam Hijacks the Train
Watching Sam Nelson’s evolution in Hijack is, in some ways, painful. From the negotiator who did everything to resolve the plane hijack in the first season and bring everyone to safety, we see him as a broken man upon his return in Season 2. He is a man acting suspiciously, hiding the truth from our eyes. By the end of the first episode, the cliffhanger is massive: Sam hijacks the train, and throughout the second episode, he seems fully intent on carrying out a criminal plan just to track down the story’s villain, John Bailey-Brown, who had been spotted in Berlin some time before. The end of the second episode is even more shocking, with a finale suggesting Sam let a bomb explode at Alexanderplatz station, killing a hostage.
The truth about what happened begins to clarify in Episode 3, even if it isn’t stated explicitly. But before we get there, we are hit with a burning fact: Kai, Sam’s son whom we saw in the first season, died a year ago in a car accident. Sam is certain it wasn’t an accident, but that it was John Bailey-Brown—the man responsible for the first season’s hijack—who killed him. The second season takes place exactly one year after his son’s death. But the facts unfolding before us are not always what they seem.
Everyone is asking what the motive is that pushes Sam to do what he does in the second season. Does Sam really hijack the train and risk the lives of 200 passengers just to personally get his hands on John Bailey-Brown?
The answer is no: Sam doesn’t hijack the train to forcibly obtain what he has been seeking for months—justice for John Bailey-Brown. The truth is that Sam is under blackmail, manipulated by John Bailey-Brown’s men with one major goal: to ensure John Bailey-Brown is freed.
As we discover in the decisive third episode of the second season, John Bailey-Brown is in the hands of British Intelligence, which is doing everything to extradite him to the UK and convict him for his actions in the first season. This would be exactly what Sam wants, even in his son’s name—tragically dead as collateral damage in his battle against Bailey-Brown. But as we know, John Bailey-Brown is an extremely powerful man and does not easily surrender to a life in prison.
Because of this, his men contact Sam in a backstory to the second season that we were previously unaware of. They tell Sam that if he doesn’t do as they say, they will kill Marsha, Kai’s mother. Sam is therefore forced to play their game, hijacking the train in Berlin and demanding that John Bailey-Brown be freed and placed on the train. It is the will of John Bailey-Brown himself, who intends to free himself from the grip of British Intelligence and escape. The hijack at the hands of Sam Nelson becomes credible precisely because it is the anniversary of his son’s death: a symbolic day for Sam, who in the eyes of the German police is seeking justice and revenge in such a conspicuous way after being ignored for months.
A Game of Bluffs: The Anatomy of a Made Up Terrorist
Sam, however, is not willing to remain a mere puppet in the hands of the villains. Even when it isn’t immediately obvious, his calculating mind is always trying to stay one step ahead of his enemies.
The explosion we see at the end of the second episode was a fake: Sam simulated it to give the German police the impression that he was serious, but the hostage Freddie returned safely to the train immediately afterward. Throughout the third episode, Sam Nelson tries to convince the train driver, Otto, that ‘nobody dies today.’ Bitterly, however, he realizes he cannot afford to make such promises. As soon as Sam and the driver leave the cockpit, one of John Bailey-Brown’s men—who had infiltrated the passengers—enters the driver’s cabin and beats Freddie to death as a clear message to Sam. Upon his return, Sam realizes once again just how far Bailey-Brown is willing to go.
The moment of the blackout in the subway tunnel in Episode 3 gave Sam an idea: to ask the driver to run for help, contacting British authorities to warn them of the danger Marsha is in back in the UK. Until that moment, Sam believed Marsha was the only person whose life was in peril if he didn’t comply with the demands. But as he nears the front carriage of the train again, he discovers the true threat hanging over them: there is a real bomb under the train, and it is programmed to explode within minutes.
Sam, therefore, finds himself between a rock and a hard place. He is a hero with no margin for error, a man still grieving the death of his son, callously manipulated by villains. Mentally, however, he is still awake and ready to fight, and he will do everything in his power to throw a wrench in their plans, preventing the release of John Bailey-Brown and bringing him to justice. His biggest challenge is ensuring this happens without any more casualties.
As Sam says in Hijack Season 2, it’s like a wicked game of poker: it’s not the person with the best hand who wins, but the one with the best bluff. We will have the final answers at the conclusion of the series.
As the season has now concluded, it is clear that the “truth” we analyzed here was part of a meticulously crafted “Double Bluff” by the showrunners. The theory that Sam was merely a puppet for John Bailey Brown was exactly what the real mastermind wanted us to believe. To see how this deception was orchestrated from the start and what the final song reveals about Sam’s true intentions, check out our final deep dive into the finale.
