Is Netflix’s latest international sensation iHostage inspired by true events? Here’s the real story

Netflix’s iHostage is not the kind of thriller that lets you relax. From the opening scene, the show hurls you into a hostage crisis that plays out in real time, all claustrophobic tension and desperate negotiations. But the big question buzzing around its April 18 release is whether the nightmare that unfolds on-screen ever happened in real life.

The answer is yes... sort of. Let me explain more.

What is iHostage about?

First things first, a spoiler alert. Don’t read any further if you want to watch the show pure. (That said, why would you have opened this article in that case?)

So, back on February 22, 2022, in broad daylight on one of Amsterdam’s busiest squares, a 27-year-old man armed with a handgun and an automatic rifle walked into the Apple Store in Leidseplein and took a single hostage. His demands? An eye-watering €200 million in cryptocurrency (around $226 million at the time) and a safe escape.

For nearly five hours, the stand-off paralyzed the city. Police evacuated about 70 people trapped in the building while surrounding the store with special forces and medical teams. Gunshots rang out early in the confrontation, and rumors of explosives only heightened the tension.

Director of the series Bobby Boermans remembers it well. He lives nearby and, like most locals, found the whole event surreal. “Hostage situations like this are rare in the Netherlands,” Boermans later said to Time. “That’s what made this incident so bizarre.”

At the time, Boermans had just wrapped filming on another Netflix thriller and couldn’t shake the image of bullet holes puncturing the sleek glass of the Apple Store. “The calm after the storm stuck with me,” he added.

That unsettling calm eventually morphed into iHostage.

Fancy a bit of trailer action? Here you go:

How closely does iHostage follow the real story?

Boermans kept iHostage tightly focused on the five-hour siege, sticking to the real timeline but condensing characters and dialogue. The aforementioned demands of crypto stayed in.

The standoff ended when the hostage made a break for it, prompting the gunman to give chase - straight into a speeding police vehicle. The suspect died from his injuries a day later. The use of force sparked debate across the Netherlands, though authorities cleared the officer involved. This was a news report at the time.

Who was the gunman that iHostage is based on?

The attacker, Abdel Rahman Akkad, was known to police, with prior convictions and mental health issues. Boermans hoped the film would open conversations about how public health systems fail people like Akkad before violence erupts.

While not a scene-by-scene retelling, iHostage leans on the real-life tension, moral ambiguity, and human resilience of that night. Boermans worked with negotiators, police, and survivors to capture the raw emotions. The film doesn’t tell you how to feel - it just asks: what would you do in that moment?

Read more from the Time interview.

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