“If it ever comes down to a choice, you’ll make the right one,” Prime Minister Abigail Dalton’s (Suranne Jones) husband Alex (Ashley Thomas) tells her at the beginning of the new trailer for Hostage. She has no idea how difficult that choice will be.
On the verge of a historic meeting with French President Vivienne Toussaint (Julie Delpy), PM Dalton receives nightmarish news: her husband has been taken hostage, and the kidnappers are demanding that she resign immediately if she wants to see Alex alive again. “I have always wanted to tell the story of the reality of living where you work as a prime minister and being torn between your family and your country,” writer and showrunner Matthew Charman tells Netflix.
For Dalton, the choice is a tragic part of the job. “She is put in such extreme circumstances, and we see that when push comes to shove she puts her country over her family,” Jones tells Netflix. “The original, working title for the series was The Choice, and that’s why.”
The Hostage trailer gives us a glimpse at the ensuing events, including a blackmail plot that targets President Toussaint at the same time. “[Toussaint] is good at handling situations and power, but her weakness is her hidden side,” Delpy tells Netflix. “She puts herself, and her entire career, in danger for something that could have been avoided.”
In spite of their diametrically opposed politics, Dalton and Toussaint are forced to work together — with the entire world watching. Will they give in to the terrorists? Or stand strong and risk their loved ones’ lives?
Throughout, the prime minister and her team (including Conclave’s Lucian Msamati) struggle to learn the motivation behind this shocking attack. But the answer may lie in plain sight. “Please, we have families,” pleads Alex to his masked captor near the end of the trailer. “So did I,” the kidnapper responds.
Hostage will reveal the truth on Aug. 21.
