Hostage is a new political thriller starring Suranne Jones and Julie Delpy. The series follows the U.K. Prime Minister as she’s swept up in a kidnapping plot with political implications. You can now stream the five-part series in its entirety on Netflix.
The political becomes personal in Hostage, Netflix‘s new thriller about a kidnapping plot involving the husband of the British Prime Minister.
Created by Matt Charman, who previously brought to life Netflix’s 2022 thriller Treason, Hostage stars Suranne Jones (Gentleman Jack) as Abigail Dalton, the British Prime Minister who’s swept up in a high-stakes conspiracy following the abduction of her husband, Alex (Ashley Thomas). Also in peril is French President Vivienne Toussaint (Julie Delpy), who finds herself at the center of a blackmail scheme that’s related to the kidnapping.
With Hostage rapidly climbing the Netflix charts following its Aug. 21 release, let’s unpack the series’ intense ending — the perpetrators behind the kidnapping, their political goals, and the complex motivations that set their plan in motion.
What is Hostage about?
Suranne Jones as Abigail and Julie Delpy as Vivienne on ‘Hostage’.
Kevin Baker/Netflix
Hostage centers on Abigail and Vivienne’s partnership as they set aside their own disagreements in the face of a multi-armed plot that aims to oust both women from power.
It begins when Alex, Abigail’s husband, is kidnapped in French Guiana while working with Doctors Without Borders. The kidnappers’ only demand is that Abigail resign as Prime Minister, but Abigail refuses, which causes tension with her teenage daughter, Sylvie (Isobel Akuwudike).
Vivienne, meanwhile, discovers while visiting London for a summit that she’s being blackmailed amid her re-election cycle. If the fling she had with her stepson, Matheo (Corey Mylchreest), gets out, it would tank her political career.
These two plots, while separate, are overseen by the same shadowy forces. And they come amid a crisis in which Britain is seeking help from the French government to obtain the medical resources they lack. But the two countries will need to collaborate on more than just medicine in order to put a stop to the coup brewing beneath the surface of these plots.
Who kidnapped Alex?
Ashley Thomas as Alex on ‘Hostage’.
Cr. Ollie Upton/Netflix
Ar. lex and his Doctors Without Borders colleagues were kidnapped by mercenaries working for John Shagan (Martin McCann), a former military sergeant with the British Armed Forces who has a bone to pick with Abigail.
But he’s not working alone. His right hand is Saskia Morgan (Sophie Robertson), a former military colleague of Shagan’s who’s been dating Matheo as a means of espionage. Saskia, we learn, saw her battalion directly impacted by Abigail’s leadership, as she’s drastically cut military spending as Prime Minister.
Alex is saved after Vivienne agrees to send her military forces into French Guiana, though his own heroic efforts also help him overcome his abductors.
But the story isn’t over with his retrieval. It turns out that Shagan and Saskia are in league with General Livingston (Mark Lewis Jones), a bigwig in the U.K.’s Ministry of Defense who has more up his sleeve when it comes to removing Abigail from power.
So, how does he know Shagan? He served as his commanding officer during a military operation in Belize several years previous.
What happened in Belize?
The fifth and final episode of Hostage opens with a flashback in which Abigail is consulted about an invasion by Guatemalan soldiers into Belize, a former Crown colony. Abigail was just a junior minister at the time, but nevertheless the most senior official available to make a critical call.
That call? Whether to get the area’s British soldiers and civilians out of the country while it’s still safe, or to wait for the locals in Belize who assisted the British forces. Those left behind, she’s told, could be executed as enemy collaborators. With the clock ticking, Abigail gives the gutting order to leave the locals behind.
What does Belize have to do with the kidnappings?
Suranne Jones, Isobel Akuwudike, and Ashley Thomas on ‘Hostage’.
NetflixÂ
Well, it turns out that Shagan was among the soldiers impacted by Abigail’s decision to leave behind the locals in Belize.
Shagan, in particular, holds a grudge against Abigail. Among those left behind in Belize was his fiancée, a local translator who was six months pregnant with his child when she was killed.
How does General Livingston fit in?
Livingston’s issues with Abigail aren’t personal, but political. The general, who served as Shagan’s commanding officer in Belize, harnesses the soldier’s anger and utilizes it for his own purposes by helping to fund and organize the kidnapping and blackmail plots executed by Shagan.
His issue with Abigail concerns her political platform, which includes an investment in the National Health Service at the expense of the military. He wants her out of power and the military’s funding restored, even if that means staging a coup. John, meanwhile, wants her dead, and he’s willing to defy the general’s orders in order to get revenge.
Is the coup successful?
Sophie Robertson as Saskia and Corey Mylchreest as Matheo on ‘Hostage’.
Des Willie/NetflixÂ
The penultimate episode ends with a bomb detonating at 10 Downing Street, the office of the prime minister. It kills Vivienne, but Abigail, Alex, and Sylvie survive the blast.
Livingston is angry at Shagan for detonating the bomb without his order, but nevertheless takes advantage of the confusion over Abigail’s fate to remove her from power. As Defense Secretary Dan Ogilvy (Pip Carter) is appointed as interim Prime Minister, Livingston deploys the military into the streets and instills a 24-hour media blackout. So far, his plan is working.
But with the help of her colleagues, Abigail is able to piece together the conspiracy. After pinning down the identity of Shagan, they’re able to draw a line between him and Livingston.
She goes to the Ministry of Defense and the pair have a heated argument in front of the cabinet, with Abigail accusing him of working with Shagan in order to reverse the cuts she made to military spending. He fires back, “In a dangerous world, you left us exposed and vulnerable.”
But he slips after she accuses him of being behind the bombing at 10 Downing Street, revealing that he knows the bomb was inside a laptop. This being classified information, he’s outed as a collaborator and arrested. Ogilvy subsequently reinstates Abigail as prime minister.
Does Shagan kill Abigail?
After Alex, Matheo, and Sylvie retreat to a safe house, Shagan and Saskia follow them there and hold them hostage. Shagan calls Abigail and tells her to come alone.
When Abigail arrives, she acknowledges how her decisions regarding Belize impacted him. “I know you were serving there when it was evacuated,” she says. “You have to know that whatever call I made, people would’ve died.”
He feels no sympathy for her. “We made promises to local men and women,” he says. “They risked their lives working for us and you left them to be shot on a f—ing runway.”
After revealing that his pregnant fiancée died in the aftermath, he says he’s going to “gut you like you gutted me.”
She’s saved, however, by Sylvie, who stole Saskia’s gun during a struggle between Saskia and Matheo. She points the gun at Shagan, who encourages her to shoot him, knowing how much it would devastate Abigail and Alex for their daughter to have blood on her hands.
When Shagan reveals to Sylvie that he’s responsible for the death of her grandfather (James Cosmo), she snaps and shoots him as police storm the safe house.
How does Hostage end?
Suranne Jones as Abigail Dalton on ‘Hostage’.
Des Willie/NetflixÂ
Hostage ends with Abigail back in power and preparing to give a public statement.
“For too long, I’ve listened to the wrong voices,” she says to the gathered press. “I’ve allowed myself to be led into making the wrong decisions in an attempt to maintain my position. And I’ve forgotten the candidate I was when my people first elected me.”
She continues, “People want the truth from their politicians. It’s the least you deserve. Those words belonged to Vivienne Toussaint, an extraordinarily brave leader, and I use them today to call a general election. I want to be totally honest with the British people about the challenges we face and seek a radical new mandate so that I can work with you to fix our country. I will be straight with you, always, even if the answers are hard to take. Because it’s the least you deserve.”
Where can I watch Hostage?
Julie Delpy as Vivienne and Suranne Jones as Abigail on ‘Hostage’.
Des Willie/NetflixÂ
Hostage is now streaming on Netflix.
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