Idris Elba on ‘Hijack’ & His Negotiating Skills at Home (Exclusive)

In his new series “Hijack,” Idris Elba plays a corporate negotiator forced to use his skills to save a plane he’s aboard after a hijacking.

This role certainly differs from his decade-long stint as the fierce criminal investigator on the hit British crime drama “Luther.” Idris shared with “Extra’s” Megan Ryte how he thinks Luther would have handled this hijacking.

“Luther would have waited for the hijackers to walk by and then tripped them up and taken a seatbelt and put him around his neck and then elbowed him in the back of the head and then used him as a shield to get the others to calm down, because he ain’t playing at negotiating, talking nonsense. He’s not like that.”

As for what kind of negotiator Idris is in business and at home with wife Sabrina Dhowre, he revealed, “I’m a fair person. I am Virgo, so I guess that makes me a fair person. We examine the pros and cons of everything. If you say, ‘No, you can’t have it,’ I will figure out a way to get what I want.”

Smiling, he added, “The business side is easier. The home side is tough.”

Also tough was shooting “Hijack,” as all seven episodes take place in real time.

“It was the longest flight I ever took in my life,” said the actor. “It was six months of making that show. I was claustrophobic. It was very warm, and I didn’t even get to change my shirt, not once.”

He continued, “It was great, though. It was a real examination of human nature and mind control. It was fun. It was nice to play with something really familiar — hijacking — we have seen it in films, but to really turn it on its head.”

Idris added that while the story in “Hijack” hits close to real-life events with planes, working on the show actually made him less afraid of what could go wrong in the sky.

“I know more about flying a plane than some first-time pilots, because I’ve had to learn what we’re doing, replicating the truth. I don’t overthink it now. I’m not scared of flying. Even after this show, I’m even more less scared of flying.”