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Everything to Know About Peacock's The Day of the Jackal
Eddie Redmayne is unrecognizable in Peacock's The Day of the Jackal.
An elderly janitor called Ralph arrives for his shift, pushing a cleaning cart from room to room. After trading pleasantries with a couple of office mates, Ralph starts killing everyone who crosses his path. Once Ralph has carved a path of violence through the building, he ascends to the roof, tosses a few smoke pellets onto the ground below, and vanishes into the chaos.
Back at his safe house, Ralph takes out his teeth, removes his mustache, eyebrows, and wig, then peels the skin from his face. Ralph isn’t who he seems to be. The real Ralph is back at home with an extension cord around his neck. The man we’ve been following in the opening scene of Peacock’s upcoming thriller series, The Day of the Jackal, is an elite contract killer (Eddie Redmayne) with his sights set on some of the world’s most powerful people.
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What is The Day of the Jackal about?
The Day of the Jackal is based on the 1971 mystery novel by Frederick Forsyth and the 1973 film of the same name. The book earned the 1972 Edgar Award for Best Novel from the Mystery Writers of America and remains a beloved mystery tale to this day.
The Peacock series follows a group of British intelligence officers, seen primarily from the perspective of ambitious investigator Bianca (Lashana Lynch), as they hunt for a mysterious assassin known as the Jackal. Like the novel, the film and TV series are loosely based on actual events.
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In the early 1960s, as the Algerian War for independence was drawing to a close, far-right French forces opposed to Algerian independence conspired to kill the President of France, Charles de Gaulle. The plot failed and those involved were captured and convicted. Forsyth’s The Day of the Jackal imagines what might have happened if the story didn’t end there, if a terrorist organization outsourced their dirty work to the world’s deadliest killer.
Peacock’s The Day of the Jackal reimagines Forsythe’s famed mystery story in the modern day, folding in contemporary political and technological elements. Viewers see the story through the eyes of the Jackal and the investigator on his tail.
Who stars in Peacock’s The Day of the Jackal?
The Day of the Jackal stars Eddie Redmayne (Les Misérables, The Theory of Everything) as the titular Jackal, an elite assassin. Lashana Lynch (No Time to Die, Captain Marvel, The Woman King) co-stars as Bianca, a British intelligence officer nipping at the Jackal’s heels.
How can you watch The Day of the Jackal?
The first five episodes of The Day of the Jackal are now streaming exclusively on Peacock. New episodes will arrive each Thursday following the premiere, leading up to a double finale on December 12.
