Peacock and Sky have given the thriller The Day of the Jackal an early season two renewal. Starring Eddie Redmayne as the titular character, the series hit the top spot on Peacock’s Top 10 TV Shows list over its first weekend. The 10-episode first season premiered on November 14, 2024 and will wrap up on December 19th.
In addition to Eddie Redmayne, season one stars Lashana Lynch, Úrsula Corberó, Charles Dance, Richard Dormer, and Chukwudi Iwuji. Lia Williams, Khalid Abdalla, Eleanor Matsuura, Jonjo O’Neill, and Sule Rimi also stars.
“An unrivaled and highly elusive lone assassin, the Jackal (Redmayne), makes his living carrying out hits for the highest fee,” reads Peacock’s synopsis. “But following his latest kill, he meets his match in a tenacious British intelligence officer (Lynch) who starts to track down the Jackal in a thrilling cat-and-mouse chase across Europe, leaving destruction in its wake.”
Discussing the series in a recent press conference, Redmayne described the appeal of the series. “The truth is that the way I sort of choose work, I suppose, I wish there was some sort of strategy involved, but it’s always instinctive. And I was sent the first three scripts for The Day of the Jackal. They arrived in my inbox and I had grown up watching the movie, the Edward Fox movie, and it had been one of my dad’s favorite movies. Despite watching it at an inappropriately young age, there was something about it I found compelling,” said Redmayne.
“There was something, I describe it as kind of analog. It was about the craft of espionage or being an assassin. There was something old-school about it. It was about the creation of plans and then the sort of catharsis when it all plays out, in theory, according to plan. So, I loved the movie. And when the scripts arrived, I had quite a massive sense of — or a bit of trepidation as I don’t want to butcher the thing that you love.”
Redmayne continued: “But what I read, because it was set now, instantly felt fresh and new. But it retained all of those analog qualities that I had loved from the original. And I just, honestly, found it so propulsive. It’s the sort of television that I love to watch, so it keeps me on the edge of my seat. It also felt different to any other characters that I had played. So, a combination of reasons, but principally because I’d read the three and wanted to know what happened in the fourth that led me to join.”
Based on the novel by Frederick Forsyth, the series is executive produced by Eddie Redmayne, Gareth Neame, Nigel Marchant, Sam Hoyle, Sue Naegle, Ronan Bennett, and Brian Kirk. Ronan Bennett wrote the first season and Brian Kirk, Anthony Philipson, Paul Wilmshurst, and Anu Menon directed.
