The Day of the Jackal
The Day of the Jackal
Now Showing

The Day of the Jackal

"The hunter. Hunted."

8.3
Yr 2024
Status Returning Series
Drama Action & Adventure Mystery
Your Verdict
Unrated

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Series Brief

Overview

An unrivalled and highly elusive lone assassin, the Jackal, makes his living carrying out hits for the highest fee. But following his latest kill, he meets his match in a tenacious British intelligence officer who starts to track down the Jackal in a thrilling cat-and-mouse chase across Europe, leaving destruction in its wake.

Status

Latest

  • The Day of the Jackal renewed for season 2 — reported September 29, 2026 (cbr.com)
  • Season 2 release window reportedly set for 2027 — August 28, 2026 (radiotimes.com, screenrant.com)
Critical Reception

What critics are saying

Score 73 /100

The Day of the Jackal generally won over critics as an engaging, high-octane espionage thriller, anchored by compelling performances from Eddie Redmayne and Lashana Lynch. Praise frequently centered on its propulsive tension, slick production values, and procedural focus on meticulous assassination planning and cat-and-mouse tradecraft. Several reviewers found it to be a stylish and worthy modern update to Frederick Forsyth's novel, echoing the tone of premier spy series like The Night Manager.

However, critical response was notably divided on pacing and format. While admirers appreciated the extended narrative space dedicated to exploring the protagonist's personal life and ethical complexities, harsher reviews criticized the adaptation as bloated and overlong. Detractors felt that stretching a naturally tight, lean story across a multi-episode television arc diluted the urgency and reduced a classic thriller to standard television formula.

“Meticulously presented and beautifully detailed, the series is a breathless adventure until the very end.”

“The Day of the Jackal is a top-notch thriller, with dazzling action sequences and smart storytelling.”

“Eddie Redmayne's Peacock series 'The Day of the Jackal' — an adaptation of the book — is the most egregiously bloated series of the year.”

Transmission Paths

Where to Watch

Peacock Premium
US
Peacock Premium Plus
US
StackTV Amazon Channel
CA
Show 3 more
fuboTV
CA
Now TV
UK
Sky Go
UK
Why fans love it

The 2024 adaptation of The Day of the Jackal centers on the professional distance maintained by a lone contract killer versus the relentless focus of a single intelligence officer. It moves the classic premise of a political assassination plot into a contemporary setting, trading cold war tension for the modern mechanics of surveillance and tactical agility. What distinguishes the series is the structural push and pull between two highly skilled individuals who are each defined by their own professional obsessions.

Much of the friction comes from the casting of Eddie Redmayne as a figure who operates through calculated shifts in identity to remain invisible. The narrative avoids grand spectacle in favor of sustained, technical tension that spans multiple European cities. It functions primarily as a grounded character study where the potential for destruction grows in scale as each participant digs deeper into the other’s life. The stakes remain personal even as the geographical scope of the chase expands.

Featured Players

Cast

Credited 75
Regulars 24
Longest run 10 eps
Eddie Redmayne
Eddie Redmayne
as The Jackal
10 episodes
Lashana Lynch
Lashana Lynch
as Bianca Pullman
10 episodes
Eleanor Matsuura
Eleanor Matsuura
as Zina Jansone
10 episodes
Chukwudi Iwuji
Chukwudi Iwuji
as Osita Halcrow
10 episodes
Úrsula Corberó
Úrsula Corberó
as Nuria
10 episodes
Adoney Díaz Barajas
as Carlitos
10 episodes
David Gojković
as Bodyguard
10 episodes
Philipp Droste
Philipp Droste
as Security Guard
1 episode
Show 67 more
Elvis Clausen as Florian 1 episode Lucas Englander as Elias Fest 2 episodes Burghart Klaußner as Manfred Fest 1 episode Paula Kroh as Katrina 1 episode Jan-Martin Müller as Joachim Müller 2 episodes Laura Checkley as Paddy Denham 2 episodes Scott Alexander Young as Martin Krasner 1 episode Jonathan Rhodes as Talk Show Presenter 1 episode Helen Austin as Television Newsreader 1 episode Florisa Kamara as Jasmine Pullman 7 episodes Nikolaus Barton as Border Police Officer 1 episode Thomas Mraz as Werner Leckner 2 episodes Kate Dickie as Alison Stoke 4 episodes Jack Doolan as DS Michael Gillespie 1 episode Katherine Devlin as Emma Stoke 1 episode Chris Kyriacou as Custody Sergeant 1 episode Jonjo O'Neill as Edward Carver 5 episodes Adonay Barajas as Carlito 5 episodes Saul Barajas as Carlito 5 episodes Corey Johnson as Doug Wojack 6 episodes Christy Meyer as Leonora Boggs 6 episodes Kevin Shen as Interviewer 1 episode Patrick O'Kane as Larry Stoke 5 episodes Robert Galas as Aubrey 1 episode Hope Ikpoku Jnr as Adam 2 episodes Akim Bangura as Ollie 2 episodes Péter Nagy as Waiter 1 episode Matthew Gravelle as Toby 1 episode Nicholas Wittman as Colin 1 episode Kristian Nekrasov as Zimmer - Bank Manager 1 episode Richard Dormer as Norman Stoke 3 episodes Patrick Kennedy as Teddy 6 episodes Nick Blood as Vince Pyne 6 episodes Pető Kata as Anna Mahkler 1 episode Hans Peterson as Physiotherapist 1 episode Jamie Maclachlan as Sergeant Ellis 1 episode Wiebke Frost as Petra Fest 1 episode Lisa Hofer as Julia Fest 1 episode Adam James as Jeremy Whitelock 4 episodes Cédric Chevalme as Delivery Driver 1 episode Mathieu Bonnefont as French Cop 1 episode Jay Simpson as George Hands 1 episode Georgie Fellows as Call Handler 1 episode Martin McDougall as Keith Canvey 5 episodes Andreas Jessen as Rasmus 3 episodes Katalin Eszter Nagy as DJ FishEye 1 episode Karishma Navekar as Analyst 1 episode Diveen Henry as Angela 1 episode Gerard Kearns as Gary Cobb 3 episodes István Koleszár as Tamás 1 episode Viktória Bauer as Lina 1 episode Krisztián Endrődy as Storekeeper 1 episode Péter Kálloy Molnár as Attila 2 episodes Levente Törköly as Gábor 1 episode Russell Balogh as Chris 3 episodes Lucy Russell as Marjorie Marshall 2 episodes Jane Napp as Officer Kohver 2 episodes Tambet Tuisk as Oskar Ilves 2 episodes Brian Caspe as Lester Coughlin 2 episodes Eddie Elks as Captain Baldwin 2 episodes Charles Dance as Timothy Winthrop 6 episodes Puchi Lagarde as Marisa 5 episodes Jon Arias as Álvaro 8 episodes Khalid Abdalla as Ulle Dag Charles 7 episodes Lia Williams as Isabel Kirby 8 episodes Sule Rimi as Paul Pullman 7 episodes Ben Hall as Damian Richardson 9 episodes
Production Board

Crew

Writer
Jessica Sinyard Shyam Popat Charles Cumming Ronan Bennett
Director
Anu Menon
Production Design
Richard Bullock
Associate Producer
Shyam Popat Charles Cumming Jessica Sinyard
Co-Producer
C. Cory M. McCrum-Abdo
Executive Producer
Eddie Redmayne Sue Naegle Nigel Marchant Sam Hoyle Gareth Neame Ronan Bennett
Costume Design
Natalie Humphries
Stunt Double
Attila Beros
Co-Executive Producer
Lashana Lynch Marianne Buckland
Director of Photography
Christopher Ross
Military Consultant
Paul Biddiss
Original Music Composer
Volker Bertelmann
Casting
Nina Gold
Producer
Christopher Hall
Consulting Producer
Frederick Forsyth
Novel
Frederick Forsyth
Makeup Designer
Melanie Lenihan
Standby Art Director
Alexandria Kerr
Creator
Ronan Bennett
Signal Match

Similarity

Where The Day of the Jackal overlaps with other shows, and exactly what they have in common.

Keyword Cloud

Keywords

based on novel or book hitman political assassination
Technical Sheet

Details

First Aired
November 07, 2024
Status
Returning Series
Origin
GB
TMDB Votes
1,360