Reimagined into a contemporary political setting, the classic novel centres on a ruthless British assassin, known only as the "Jackal", and the intelligence officer tasked with capturing him.[1]
The Jackal, a highly effective assassin, stages a false flag attack to wound Elias Fest, the son of far rightGerman Chancellor candidate Manfred Fest. This draws Fest into a hospital visit where the Jackal assassinates him via sniper rifle. Reviewing the footage of the Jackal leaving the scene, MI6 firearms expert Bianca realises he used a sniper rifle with a collapsable barrel. She theorises it was made by Northern Irish gunsmith Norman Stoke. Following the Fest assassination, the Jackal is contacted by an anonymous source, who offers him $10 million for a job. At an in-person meeting with the contact, Zina Jansone, the Jackal learns the target is tech mogul Ulle Dag Charles (UDC). The Jackal demands $100 million to kill such a high-profile and well-protected target. After returning home to his wife Nuria, the person who commissioned the Jackal to assassinate Fest refuses to pay him. Meanwhile, Bianca attempts to force her Belfast contact, Allison, to find Stoke. When she is unsuccessful, Bianca has Allison's activist daughter, Emma, arrested. However, the plan backfires when Emma goes into cardiac arrest in custody.
2
"Episode 2"
Brian Kirk
Ronan Bennett
7 November 2024 (2024-11-07)
14 November 2024 (2024-11-14)
Emma dies from her cardiac arrest. Bianca covers up her death to force Allison to find Stoke. Using his alias Charles, the Jackal spends time at his home in Spain with Nuria and their son Carlito. However, he is forced to leave early when he receives a lead on the source of the withheld payment for the Fest assassination. After dropping the Jackal at the airport, Nuria spies him by chance after he visits his bank, leading her to assume he is having an affair. Upon re-arriving in Munich, the Jackal is forced to divert to meet with Zina again, who confirms that her employer, Timothy Winthorp, has agreed to the Jackal’s terms. However, she also informs him that the assassination must be completed within the month before UDC can launch revolutionary new software to expose dark money worldwide. The Jackal agrees. After further investigation in Munich, the Jackal discovers Elias Fest was the one who hired him and is refusing to pay him after being shot. Meanwhile, pursuing her investigation of the assassin, Bianca theorises he is British and former British Army. Allison obtains Norman’s phone number, and Bianca is deployed to Belarus to arrest him. The operation goes awry, though, and Norman kills two of Bianca’s colleagues before escaping, leading Bianca to believe he was tipped off.
3
"Episode 3"
Brian Kirk
Ronan Bennett
7 November 2024 (2024-11-07)
14 November 2024 (2024-11-14)
In the aftermath of the Belarus operation, Bianca uses a recovered suitcase from Stoke’s location to prove he made a collapsible sniper rifle that could be smuggled through customs. She is kept on the investigation by her superiors, Isabel Kirby and Osita Halcrow. MI6 fixer Carver begins investigating the source of the Belarus leak, with Bianca, her colleague Damian and Kirby and Halcrow under suspicion. In Germany, as the Jackal prepares to infiltrate Manfred Fest’s funeral to reach Elias, he calls Nuria. She confronts him about her sighting of him. He attempts to prove he isn’t having an affair, but Nuria remains suspicious. With the help of her mother and brother, she searches Charles’ home office. They find a hidden vault. Allison and her husband Larry arrive in London to identify Emma’s body. Allison angrily rebukes Bianca whilst Norman contacts Larry and reveals what happened to him. Larry confronts Allison and assaults her upon learning she’s a mole. The Jackal infiltrates Manfred’s funeral and kidnaps Elias to confront him before shooting him dead. Following a lead, Bianca discovers the assassin’s codename - Jackal. Nuria and her family break into the vault, which the Jackal sees via CCTV as he leaves Germany.
4
"Episode 4"
Anthony Philipson
Ronan Bennett
7 November 2024 (2024-11-07)
14 November 2024 (2024-11-14)
5
"Episode 5"
Anthony Philipson
Jessica Sinyard
7 November 2024 (2024-11-07)
14 November 2024 (2024-11-14)
6
"Episode 6"
TBA
TBA
14 November 2024 (2024-11-14)
21 November 2024 (2024-11-21)
7
"Episode 7"
TBA
TBA
21 November 2024 (2024-11-21)
28 November 2024 (2024-11-28)
8
"Episode 8"
TBA
TBA
28 November 2024 (2024-11-28)
5 December 2024 (2024-12-05)
9
"Episode 9"
TBA
TBA
5 December 2024 (2024-12-05)
12 December 2024 (2024-12-12)
10
"Episode 10"
TBA
TBA
12 December 2024 (2024-12-12)
12 December 2024 (2024-12-12)
Production
The project for Carnival Films with Sky and Peacock was announced in November 2022.[4] The screenwriter Ronan Bennett was set as writer and showrunner, with Brian Kirk as the lead director.[5], followed by Anthony Philipson, Paul Wilmshurst and Anu Menon. Charles Cumming, Jessica Sinyard and Shyam Popat joined the writer's room in July 2022. Christopher Hall produced all episodes. Eddie Redmayne, Lashana Lynch, Ronan Bennett, Gareth Neame and Nigel Marchant are executive producers.[6] The series is a reimagining of the source text with the story given a modern setting, with Redmayne describing it as "a completely different piece" that has "been reconceived and contemporised with a new target". The series also gives more of an insight into The Jackal as a protagonist and Redmayne said he chose the project because "the idea of getting to spend a proper amount of time with this enigma felt like great material to mine".[7]
Filming for the series, taking place in four countries and expected to last seven months, was started in June 2023.[11] The shoot began in Budapest, Hungary and its neighbouring regions.[12][13] Filming took place in Vienna in July 2023.[14] Filming took place in the autumn of 2023 in Croatia.[15] Croatian locations include Rijeka, Pag, Opatija, and the central Istrian region.[16]
Broadcast
The ten-episode series premiered on 7 November 2024, airing in the United Kingdom on Sky Atlantic and Now, and streaming on Peacock in the United States.[17][18]NBCUniversal Global Distribution is distributing the series internationally outside of Sky's markets, airing through its agreements with Foxtel (Australia), Showcase (Canada), JioCinema (India), Showmax (Africa), Disney+ (Latin America) and SkyShowtime (Europe) among others.[19] Subsequent episodes will be released weekly, concluding with a double-episode finale on December 12.
Reception
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, The Day of the Jackal has an approval rating of 90% based on 20 reviews, with an average rating of 8.0/10. The website's consensus reads: "A globetrotting thriller made eerily plausible by Eddie Redmayne's reptilian performance, The Day of the Jackal turns dark deeds into good fun."[20]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 74 out of 100 based on 11 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[21]