Editor’s note: The below contains spoilers for the Hostage finale.
Hostage is the latest political thriller series to capture the attention of Netflix viewers worldwide, quickly climbing to the top of the streaming site’s TV charts. Starring Suranne Jones and Julie Delpy as two heads of state being blackmailed in the midst of a political dilemma, the series embraces plenty of twists and turns to reveal an attempted coup from within the British government.
As British Prime Minister Abigail Dalton (Jones) meets with French President Vivienne Toussaint (Delpy) regarding a medical crisis in the United Kingdom, Dalton’s husband Alex (Ashley Thomas) is kidnapped along with a handful of others while working with Doctors Without Borders in French Guiana. In exchange for his release, the kidnappers demand Dalton resign, leaving her in a race against the clock to save her husband and follow through with her promise to pull the country out of its devastating health crisis alongside President Toussaint, who soon falls victim to blackmail herself.
Prime Minister Dalton’s Husband Is Taken Hostage
Alex’s kidnapping in Hostage takes place against the backdrop of a major medical crisis in the UK, leaving people without access to necessary medication. When Prime Minister Dalton meets with French President Toussaint, they come to a tentative agreement — France will send the UK the drugs and medical resources they need in exchange for allowing French border forces to be stationed on UK soil in order to deter the flow of migrants into France. Their deal is thrown off course when Alex is kidnapped, demanding Dalton resign as prime minister in exchange for the release of the hostages.
French and British intelligence agencies join forces to locate the hostages, but Toussaint cancels the rescue mission when the kidnappers blackmail her via text, threatening to publicly release a video revealing Toussaint’s affair with her stepson, Matheo (Corey Mylchreest). There is a lot riding on the deal between their two countries, and the hostage crisis that emerges puts both women at risk personally and professionally. While Dalton is criticized for both failing the National Health Service and implementing significant military cuts, Toussaint, in the midst of a re-election campaign, is criticized for abandoning her principles and aligning herself with the hard right, including by Dalton herself.
Who Is Behind Alex’s Kidnapping and Toussaint’s Blackmail in ‘Hostage’?
When Alex and his fellow doctors are kidnapped in French Guiana, they remain masked and, at first, speak only in French to prevent themselves from being identified as British. When one of their captors slips up and Alex notices them speaking English, he discreetly hints that their kidnappers are British during one of their video calls with Dalton and her team. As Hostage progresses, we start to see the unfolding situation from the perspective of the kidnappers, revealing a large-scale plot to oust both Dalton and Toussaint from their respective governments.
There are four major players identified in this conspiracy. John Shagan (Martin McCann) is a former soldier who leads the kidnapping and later flies back to the UK to pose as a police officer. In uniform, he disrupts a vigil for a young child who died from lack of medical care as a result of the crisis with the intention of inciting civil unrest, giving the government an excuse to deploy the military onto the streets, and putting greater pressure on Dalton to resign or be forced out. Also working with Shagan is Matheo’s girlfriend, Saskia (Sophie Robertson), a former soldier who was directly affected by Dalton’s military cuts. It was Saskia who obtained the video of Toussaint and Matheo, and Shagan tasks her with killing Dalton’s father after she fails to resign by their set deadline.
The kidnapping and attempted coup required the cooperation of people working from within both the British and French governments. From the French government, the Secretary-General of the President’s Office, Adrienne Pelletier (Jehnny Beth), is caught working with the kidnappers when she’s overheard talking on the phone with them by Dalton’s Chief of Staff. The biggest name working with Shagan is General Livingston (Mark Lewis Jones), the Chief of the Defense Staff of the British Armed Forces.
The entire plot to expel Dalton from the government leads back to a military operation in Belize that she authorized several years earlier while she was still a junior minister. While Guatemalan soldiers invaded Belize, Dalton made the call to evacuate only the British forces stationed there, leaving their local allies behind to likely be executed. One of those locals was Shagan’s pregnant fiancé, who was later killed. Livingston, who served as Shagan’s commanding officer during the operation, uses Shagan’s desire for revenge to his advantage as a way to force Dalton out of the Prime Minister’s position and secure more funding for the military. Though Livingston was calling the shots, Shagan went rogue and planted the bomb inside the laptop Matheo brought with him into 10 Downing Street, which eventually exploded, killing Toussaint.
Prime Minister Dalton Is Reinstated in ‘Hostage’
In the series finale, Prime Minister Dalton and her team determine Livingston was the one behind the whole operation. When she confronts him, he denies it, but mentions the laptop bomb, which was classified information he wouldn’t know about, proving his involvement. Dan Ogilvy (Pip Carter), who took over as interim Prime Minister, has Livingston arrested and subsequently reinstates Dalton as Prime Minister.
Hostage doesn’t end there, however, as Shagan is still on the warpath. With Saskia’s help, he tracks Alex and Dalton’s daughter, Sylvie (Isobel Akuwudike), to the safehouse Matheo suggests they hide out in. Shagan and Saskia break in, holding the three of them hostage, while Shagan calls Dalton and demands that she come to the safe house so he can kill her once and for all. However, while Saskia holds Matheo and Syvlie at gunpoint, Matheo discreetly calls the police with his cell phone hidden behind his back. After Matheo attacks Saskia, Syvlie is able to snag her gun and runs to the neighboring room where Shagan is holding her mother at knifepoint. Shagan taunts her by revealing he had her grandfather killed, hoping she’ll shoot him. And just as the police bust through the door, Syvlie shoots him and is put in handcuffs.
As Hostage comes to an end, we flash forward three months. The Dalton family is safe and united, with Syvlie presumably cleared of any wrongdoing for shooting and likely killing him. Now Prime Minister once again, Dalton addresses the nation. Having reflected on the ways she failed as a leader, Dalton references Toussaint’s speech about the importance of honesty in politics, and calls for a general election.
