Peacock’s newly announced espionage series The Day of the Jackal looks tailor-made for fans of the espionage genre. For starters, it’s got a top-tier cast led by Eddie Redmayne as the titular “Jackal” — an elusive killer-for-hire who’s also a master of disguise. Hot on his trail is a tenacious British intelligence officer, played by Lashana Lynch, while Money Heist’s Úrsula Corberó stars as Nuria, a woman familiar with The Jackal in his personal life but who has no idea about his life as an assassin.
What’s more, speaking as someone who reads a ton of spy and spy-adjacent fiction, an extra big selling point for me is the fact that Peacock’s new series (debuting on Nov. 7) is based on Frederick Forsyth’s masterful 1971 novel of the same name. In that story, a shadow organization contracts with The Jackal to assassinate French President Charles de Gaulle.
If the series is anything like the book, regarded as one of the best thrillers of all time, Peacock subscribers are in for quite a treat.
“An unrivaled and highly elusive lone assassin, the Jackal, (Eddie Redmayne) makes his living carrying out hits for the highest fee,” Peacock’s official summary explains. “But following his latest kill, he meets his match in a tenacious British intelligence officer (Lashana Lynch) who starts to track down the Jackal in a thrilling cat-and-mouse chase across Europe, leaving destruction in its wake.”
The creative team behind the 10-episode series includes writer and executive producer Ronan Bennett, who’s best known for showrunning the drugs- and gangland-themed crime drama Top Boy (available on Netflix). The Day of the Jackal, meanwhile, marks the latest indicator of Peacock’s increasingly strong release slate, with other must-watch upcoming releases including The Killer — Peacock’s remake of the 1989 John Woo classic (directed by Woo himself!)
Among Peacock’s other strong titles are Poker Face (Season 2 of which is coming soon), The Traitors, and Ted (a prequel series to the Seth MacFarlane Ted films) — in addition, of course, to The Day of the Jackal, all of which have me pretty certain that I’m going to continue giving my money to NBC’s streamer for the foreseeable future.
Check out the official trailer for The Day of the Jackal below.
