The Day of the Jackal (2024) ‘s titular lead may have been a master assassin, but he’s also a master of disguise, as seen throughout season 1. The Day of the Jackal is a modern version of the 1973 film, which was in turn based on a book from 1971 written by Frederick Forsyth. The latest iteration takes the form of a TV show, and after a successful season 1, the show has been renewed to continue for a second season.

The central figure, the Jackal, is a mysterious man who works as a hired mercenary, earning huge cash rewards to take down targets. In this line of work, it is essential that he knows his way around a weapon, in order to effectively take down targets, and that he is able to escape without his identity being revealed, and that is where his other spectacular skill comes into play. The Jackal is a master of disguise, using a variety of techniques to conceal himself behind alternative personas and costumes.

13Ralf

In fact, when the series first begins, the Jackal looks nothing like the actor, Eddie Redmayne, who portrays him. Instead, he listens to a voice recording, mimicking their tone of voice and mannerisms, and the man is revealed to be a rather old and frail person. The Jackal has actually killed and stolen the identity of the janitor of a German business, and now he has molded his face to look the same with the aid of prosthetics. But beyond the visuals, the Jackal aligns his voice, and uses his native-level ability to speak the German language and convince others that he is this man, named Ralf.

12Anthony Mallinson (British)

In the wake of his hit in Germany, the Jackal seeks to give himself an alibi. In order to do this, he has already contacted a collector in Nuremburg, near where his hit took place, and set up an appointment to view his collection under the name Anthony Mallinson. Mallinson is an upper-class individual who collects rare game sets, such as chessboards. As he leaves the country to cross the border to France, he is stopped at a checkpoint where he shows his passport to a guard stating his name and British nationality, though the Jackal claims to live in Paris under this persona.

11Charles Calthrop

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Next, the Jackal is seen using the name Charles Calthorp. However, this is especially odd, as the people who know him by that name are his wife, his young son, and her family. It seems as though the Jackal fell in love while using one of his false identities, and he has now built a life and family as that character. His son is even named in honor of this figure, as he was named Carlitos, which is a Spanish equivalent of the name Charles or Charlie. Having lived with this name for so long, the Jackal may actually identify with this name more than most.

10Alastair Thirsk

Custom image by Yailin Chacon

While traveling to Riga in Latvia to accept another contract, Jackal uses another new identity to travel with his passport, and to conduct his business. As Alastair Thirsk, he remains a British citizen who appears to be a similar age to the Jackal, though he is completely bald. He also uses this identity to visit a bank and get details about a recent payment, which indicates that the Jackal has accounts under this name which he accesses, or at the very least uses to conduct his private business and take payments from clients.

9Josef Bauer

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As the Jackal tries to find out who his most recent client was, due to the client failing to pay what the Jackal is owed, he needs to get private information from a business in Germany. To do this, he again uses prosthetics to turn himself into a frail elderly man named Josef Bauer. Bauer appears to have several medications which he needs to regularly take, and difficulty moving around. However, he is one of the first frequently used identities that Jackal is seen using when he is a different nationality, as the documents for this man state he is a German native.

8Anthony Mallinson (French)

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Anthony Mallinson is an identity that the Jackal used earlier in the show to establish an alibi for why he was in Germany, but later in the show, he uses this same identity when fleeing Germany after killing the dishonest client. Despite sharing a name, Anthony Mallinson, on this occasion, is a French national, with his driving license confirming this detail to a police man who arrives at the scene of a small collision between the Jackal and a delivery driver. So, while the name is recycled, it is certainly a different character and identity to the upper-class collector who hails from the UK.

7Peter Gibson

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His next job sees the Jackal travel to Estonia to prepare to kill a high-profile tech billionaire named Ulle Dag Charles. Before the event where UDC will arrive in Tallinn, the Jackal arrives and pretends to be an architect named Peter Gibson in order to get exclusive access to the venue and scope out the surrounding area. Peter Gibson flirts with a young man named Rasmus who works at the venue, and is given a chance to explore the building alone with an all-access key card before the event. Later, when he returns to Estonia, this is the name he gives to police who knock on his hotel door.

6Frederick McCarthy Forsyth

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Despite using the identity of Peter Gibson when he arrives in Tallinn, Jackal uses another identity to enter the country. With heavy prosthethics turning him into an elderly gentleman who struggles to walk without the aid of a wheelchair, the Jackal travels to his destination with the aid of several airport staff. This is also the disguise he is using when he is on board a flight which the MI6 agents, Bianca Pullman (Lashana Lynch) and Vince Pyne (Nick Blood) also board. A short glimpse of the Jackal’s several passports later in the series reveals this character’s name to be Frederick McCarthy Forsyth, which is a tribute to the author of the original novel.

5Slick Hair, Glasses, Foot In A Boot

Another identity the Jackal uses while in Estonia is not given a name, though he has some distinct features from Peter and Frederick. This man is seen to resemble the Jackal physically, while he also has slicked back hair, large glasses, and distinctly, his foot is in a large boot cast. This boot is actually a special custom weapon made by Norman Stoke which will allow the Jackal to take a sniper with a limited number of uses into the venue unnoticed. Unfortunately, Rasmus spots this character, and calls out the name he recognizes Jackal by, Peter. In order to protect his identity, and avoid being caught, he kills Rasmus as this character.

4Alexander Duggan

Alexander Duggan appears to be the true identity of the Jackal as seen in the show. While serving in the British Army, Alex Duggan was a key player in taking down Taliban leaders. However, he became disillusioned with the army after seeing horrific acts committed by his peers, and he decided to forge his own path as a mercenary for hire. In order to make a clean break, the Jackal killed the rest of the unit, and caused the military to assume he was dead along with his allies. Interestingly, this is the primary identity used by the Jackal in the 1973 film, though in that version of the story, it’s a fake identity.

3Richard

After finally completing his mission and killing UDC, the Jackal is forced to think on his feet and make rash choices. He crashes vehicles, steals a truck, and soon introduces himself to an elderly couple vacationing in the countryside to try and get a ride across the border. In order to seem less intimidating, Jackal puts his wedding ring on his finger, wears a pair of glasses, tussles his hair to look unkempt, and walks with an exaggerated injury. To the elderly couple, he introduces himself as Richard, and they are happy to provide him a ride to a nearby hospital, but he soon pulls a gun and reveals he is not who he said he was.

2Andrew Lee Clarke

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In The Day of the Jackal season 1 finale, the Jackal eventually arrives back at his home in Cadiz, Spain. At this point, he finds his house empty, with his wife and son having already fled. Frustrated and thinking on his feet, the Jackal grabs several passports and bags of money in order to make his exit. Several of the characters who were portrayed previously can be seen in these travel documents, but one that has not been referenced up to this point is Andrew Lee Clark. Clark is another British native, although he has no clear distinction from the Jackal physically.

1Ukranian National

Finally, another passport glimpsed in this brief scene shows the Jackal’s face, which states that he is a citizen of Ukraine. Due to the writing being in the Cyrillic script which is used by the Ukrainian language. This is another character who was not revealed in The Day of the Jackal season 1, but there is a chance he could appear in season 2.