Blasting its way to Peacock on November 14, 2024, The Day of the Jackal is a violent TV crime thriller following The Jackal (played by Eddie Redmayne), an ice-cold assassin known for accepting the most dangerous assignments for large sums of money. Redmayne follows Edward Fox and Bruce Willis in portraying the titular killer-for-hire. However, thanks to the long-form narrative, he is given much more leeway to craft the character in conjunction with the Frederick Forsyth novel.

Despite two attempts to adapt Frederick Forsyth’s novel, one in 1973 and another in 1997, the 380-page tome covers too much to adapt as a two-hour movie. As such, the 10-episode TV adaptation is a perfect amount of time to develop the character, faithfully adapt the most significant plot points in the novel, and give fans the full experience that Forsyth conceived when it was published in 1971. Here’s why The Day of the Jackal works best as a TV show.

The Day of the Jackal

TV-MA
Drama
Thriller
Action & Adventure

CastEddie Redmayne , Lashana Lynch , Úrsula Corberó , Charles Dance , Richard Dormer , Chukwudi Iwuji , Lia Williams , Khalid Abdalla , Eleanor Matsuura , Jonjo O’Neill , Sule Rimi
WritersRonan Bennett

What Is ‘The Day of the Jackal’ About?

Adapted from the Frederick Forsyth novel, The Day of the Jackal is a British crime thriller that debuted via Peacock on November 14, 2024. The story concerns an assassin who goes by the codename The Jackal (Redmayne). The Jackal is a lone wolf who does not get along well with others and has built a rep for courting immense danger. As such, he is the highest-paid assassin in the trade with a peculiar code of conduct.

All that changes when a mysterious woman named Bianca (Lashana Lynch) enters The Jackal’s life and proves to be his professional equal, if not a thorn in his side. Bianca is an MI6 firearms specialist trying to discover the Jackal’s true identity. The Jackal travels through Europe to complete various missions, while Bianca uses her intelligence agency resources to track him down. The Jackal’s biggest conflict isn’t completing assassinations, but rather protecting his wife Nuria (Úrsula Corberó) and young son Carlitos.

Meanwhile, Bianca traces The Jackal’s sniper rifle bullets to an Irish gunmaker named Norman Stoke (Richard Dormer), whose family becomes entangled in the international hunt. Unlike the two mainlined movie versions based on Forsyth’s novel, the brilliance of the Peacock Original TV series is that it reverts to the political environment and allows for all three parts of Forsyth’s story to be adapted properly.

Previous Film Versions Cut the Story Short

In 1973, the great film director Fred Zinnemann adapted Forsyth’s novel into The Day of the Jackal. A much more faithful rendition than the 1997 version, Edward Fox portrays The Jackal as he accepts an assignment to assassinate the President of France, Charles de Gaulle. The film was praised for its raw and gritty cinéma vérité style, and Fox’s ice-cold depiction of a lone assassin with zero scruples. The pacing and narrative structure were also hailed, with famed film critic Roger Ebert noting:

“It’s not just a suspense classic, but a beautifully executed example of filmmaking. It’s put together like a fine watch. The screenplay meticulously assembles an incredible array of material, and then Zinnemann choreographs it so that the story–complicated as it is–unfolds in almost documentary starkness.”

Despite the critical plaudits, the 143-minute movie omits plenty of political subtext from Forsyth’s novel, leaving much to be desired. While the film excels as a riveting action thriller, it fails to capture the historical and political context that the novel explores. As The Chicago Reader notes:

“It’s a polished and exciting thriller, mercifully unburdened with heavy political/philosophical digressions.”

Meanwhile, the 1997 movie The Jackal starring Bruce Willis bears almost no resemblance to the source novel. Willis plays an unnamed assassin paid by Russian mobsters to eliminate the First Lady of the United States. Forsyth and Fred Zinnemann deemed the movie so ridiculous that they tried to get the title removed from the film to avoid confusion. By adapting the story into a long-form TV series, the creators can return to “the political/philosophical digressions” that made the novel compelling and give fans a truly faithful translation.

‘The Day of the Jackal’ Book Is Perfect for a TV Adaptation

As a 10-episode TV series, The Day of the Jackal has roughly 10 hours to delve into Forsyth’s 380-page novel and adapt all the significant moments omitted from the films. Writer Ronan Bennett and director Brian Kirk have enough time to develop the character, establish his motives, explore his background, and fill in the blanks the two film versions left out. There is much more room to let the story breathe and luxuriate as a reader would, rather than compressing story events into a digestible two-hour movie experience and sacrificing key story beats.

For instance, Forsyth’s novel is divided into three parts: “Anatomy of a Plot,” “Anatomy of a Manhunt,” and “Anatomy of a Kill.” Each part goes into granular detail about The Jackal’s history and current assignment, hiding, getaway attempt, and ultimate assassination attempt of the French President. In the novel, pages are spent on a single day in the life of the Jackal, contextualizing his daily routine with the historical backdrop of Europe’s complicated political entanglements.

Most telling, the novel explores the sociopolitical zeitgeist of France at the time, painting a larger picture of European unrest. The book traces events back to WWII and charts the international tensions between France and Britain. While cut for the sake of time and tempo in the films, restoring these vital story elements to the TV series would make for an ideal adaptation.

With roughly three episodes apiece covering each anatomical portion of Forsyth’s novel, The Day of the Jackal results in a far more thorough, complete, and organic adaptation. As such, it’s one of the most memorable examples of a TV show ranking better than its cinematic adaptation.

The Day of the Jackal is available to stream on Peacock