Alert – Eddie Redmayne and Lashana Lynch’s gritty new drama The Day Of The Jackal airs its first trailer

Eddie Redmayne and Lashana Lynch’s gritty new British series The Day Of The Jackal aired its first trailer on Saturday.

The upcoming political thriller follows the 1973 film of the same name as the second English-language adaptation of the 1971 book of the same name. 

Reimagined into a contemporary political setting, The Day Of The Jackal (2024) centres around an unrivalled and highly elusive lone assassin, the Jackal, (Eddie, 42,) who makes his living carrying out hits for the highest fee. 

However, the Jackal meets his match in a tenacious British intelligence officer (Lashana, 36) who starts to track him down in a thrilling cat-and-mouse chase across Europe, leaving destruction in its wake. 

Also starring are Guardians Of The Galaxy’s Chukwudi Iwuji, Game Of Thrones’ Charles Dance, and Money Heist’s Ursula Corbero.

Eddie Redmayne (pictured) and Lashana Lynch’s, 36, gritty new British series The Day Of The Jackal aired its first trailer on Saturday

The upcoming political thriller follows the 1973 film of the same name as the second English-language adaptation of the 1971 book of the same name (pictured: Lashana)

Reimagined into a contemporary political setting, The Day Of The Jackal (2024) centres around an unrivalled and highly elusive high-networth lone assassin, the Jackal (Eddie)

Frederick Forsyth’s story will be told by Sky and Peacock in 10 parts. 

It was adapted for the small screen by Ronan Bennett, the creator and writer of the critically acclaimed English crime drama Top Boy.

The Day Of The Jackal was directed by Brian Kirk whose credits include Game Of Thrones and Luther. 

The series is produced by Carnival Films, which is part of Universal International Studios, a division of Universal Studio Group. 

Eddie serves as an executive producer, Lashana as a co-executive producer, and author Frederick as the consulting producer.  

Fellow executive producers Gareth Neame and Nigel Marchant, who both worked on Downton Abbey, spoke to GQ about the project. 

Gareth said: ‘We both loved the book, and we saw the film when we were kids — I’ve seen the film many times through my life, and always really respected it.’

While they were at first cautious to tackle source material that carries with it such esteem, to expand the story across episodic TV seemed too good an opportunity to turn down. 

The Jackal meets his match in a tenacious British intelligence officer (Lashana, 36) who begins tracking him down in a thrilling cat-and-mouse chase across Europe, leaving destruction 

Also starring are Guardians Of The Galaxy’s Chukwudi Iwuji, Game Of Thrones’ Charles Dance and Money Heist’s Ursula Corbero (pictured)

Frederick Forsyth’s story will be told by Sky and Peacock in 10 parts. It was adapted for the small screen by Ronan Bennett, creator of critically acclaimed English crime drama Top Boy

The Day Of The Jackal was directed by Brian Kirk whose credits include Game Of Thrones and Luther and will premiere on Sky, NOW, and Peacock on November 7

‘It’s such an iconic, gripping story, that to revisit that in a contemporary context, with all the benefits of a multi-episodic show … we thought that would be really interesting to take this much-respected IP and develop it this way.’

Nigel agreed: ‘I think that [this] kind of title is in so many people’s consciousness … And then yeah, what’s the benefit of telling this with a bigger canvas?’

Answering the main question of why the series is set in the 2020s as opposed to the ’60s of the book and the film, Gareth simply said: ‘If we’d stayed in the past, why do it? You can’t better the film.’ 

The Day of the Jackal will premiere on Sky and streaming service NOW in the UK (and Peacock in the US) on November 7, 2024.