‘The Day Of The Jackal’ Season 2 Promises To Be Killer Television

Peacock and Sky commissioned The Day of the Jackal season 2 before Eddie Redmayne’s titular assassin could even finish the $100 million contract at hand.

The thrilling first season created by Ronan Bennett (Top Boy, Public Enemies), which premiered earlier this year, recently reached its climactic finale. And clearly, the NBCUniversal-owned streamer and UK broadcaster are already quite happy with what they’ve seen so far.

This marks the third major adaptation of the original 1971 Fredrick Forsyth thriller novel, and arguably the most significant in cultural impact after the 1973 Fred Zinnemann film starring Edward Fox — here’s everything we know about the second season of The Day of the Jackal.

Has The Day of the Jackal season 2 been confirmed?

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As per NBCUniversal and Sky, The Day of the Jackal season 2 has been locked ‘n’ loaded for another kill-shot of an instalment.

Reports aside, the entertainment entities announced the good news on their respective sites and socials on November 22nd, 2024. Which is certainly cause for celebration.

“The series is a hit with viewers around the world,” revealed Sky Group, before listing the following stats:

• In the UK, The Day of the Jackal has become the biggest Sky Original ever and the biggest launch on Sky in over two years, drawing a record audience of three million in its first week. 
• In Sky Group markets Italy, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Ireland, the series is the biggest-ever debut for a UK Sky Original. 
• In the US, it ranked #1 on Peacock’s Top 10 TV Shows on its platform and was a Top 5 streaming original in the US for its opening weekend (according to preliminary Nielsen data).
• In Australia, the series has become the highest-rated new series launch of this year for Fox Showcase.

“I loved the original movie and the Frederick Forsyth book. So when the first three scripts arrived in my inbox, there was a level of hesitation because you don’t want to butcher something you love,” Eddie Redmayne, who also serves as executive producer to the series, told The Hollywood Reporter.

“I read the first episode or two of this series and I found it so propulsive and compelling and the character so enigmatic, that I just wanted to know what happened next.”

What will the second season of The Day of the Jackal be about?

[WARNING: SEASON 1 SPOILERS AHEAD]

After the Jackal / Charles Calthrop / Alexander Duggan (Redmayne) carried out the $100 million assassination contract of billionaire tech activist Ulle Dag Charles (Khalid Abdalla) — thereby halting the release of financial software River — he escapes from Croatia. Though not without several complications and a concerning lack of payment.

One car crash, a dead elderly couple, and several injuries later, he manages to return to his Spanish estate in Cadiz. But not before his wife Nuria (Úrsula Corberó) finally decides his line of profession is too much, and tearfully decides to leave him with their son Carlito.

At the same time, MI6 agents Bianca Pullman (Lynch) and Vincent Pyne (Nick Blood) are staked outside said Spanish estate with the intent of capturing the Jackal for answers — contrary to their orders to execute him by corrupt MI6 Chief of Staff Isabel Kirby (Lia Williams), who is revealed to be acting on the orders of corrupt Foreign Secretary Jeremy Whitelock (Adam James) and, by extension, shady financier Timothy Winthrop (Charles Dance).

A detail that Section 303 senior officer Osita “Osi” Halcrow (Chukwudi Iwuji) would come to realise in the final seconds of season 1’s closing episode thanks to an insurance policy of a text message from Bianca.

When Bianca and Vincent breach the perimeter, they gun down a drunk and unwitting Alvaro (Jon Arias), Nuria’s brother, before attempting to corner the Jackal himself. In a major deviation from the Forsyth novel, the agents are dispatched by the latter without so much as breaking a sweat.

“When I signed on for the series, there was an aspiration for the Jackal story to continue. So I knew that was going to be the twist,” Eddie Redmayne explained to The Hollywood Reporter.

When the dust has settled, the Jackal meets with a disavowed Zina Jansone — the liaison between him and Winthrop for the UDG job — in Budapest. There, she reveals her former employer’s betrayal — having attempted to kill them both to tie up all loose ends — marking the powerful financier as the Jackal’s next target.

As he walks away with a new assignment in hand, the Jackal vows to exact revenge after he tracks down Nuria and Carlito.

“For someone so ruthless and accomplished, he’s not quite so good at his accounting,” said Redmayne.

“It’s a big question, how much the money means to him. I think it’s more about disrespect, isn’t it? There’s an addict quality to the Jackal, an addiction to what he does… Of course, his Achilles heel was meeting this woman [Nuria], and having the arrogance to believe he could juggle these two things.”

The Day of the Jackal season 2 will not only address Isabel Kirby’s duplicity in what seems to be a rotten intelligence agency and the proposed assassination of Timothy Winthrop, but also the Jackal’s search for Nuria and Carlito.

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Do we know The Day of the Jackal season 2 cast members?

At the initial announcement of the season renewal, The Hollywood Reporter indicated there was no word on whether Eddie Redmayne or Lashana Lynch would reprise their respective roles as the eponymous Jackal or MI6 operative Bianca Pullman.

After the events of the season 1 finale, we now know Redmayne will indeed return as the Jackal / Charles Calthrop / Alexander Duggan; while it’s unlikely Lynch makes an appearance, given Bianca Pullman is canonically dead (as is Nick Blood’s Vincent Pyne).

On the opposite end of the spectrum, we should be expecting to see more of Eleanor Matsuura as Zina Jansone — the liaison between the Jackal and powerful financier Timothy Winthrop (Charles Dance), who has now allied herself with the former after being betrayed; as well as Dance himself, whose Timothy Winthrop has been positioned as next season’s major target.

Given the mole story arc in progress, Lia Williams as corrupt MI6 Chief of Staff Isabel Kirby and Chukwudi Iwuji as Section 303 senior officer Osita “Osi” Halcrow are also on the books.

The season 1 cast has also featured the following:

• Úrsula Corberó as Nuria — the Jackal’s Spanish wife who knows him as “Charles Calthrop”
• Khalid Abdalla as Ulle Dag Charles — a Palestinian-Estonian billionaire tech entrepreneur and activist who becomes the Jackal’s target
• Sule Rimi as Paul Pullman — an academic lecturer and Bianca’s husband
• Ben Hall as Damian Richardson — MI6 agent and colleague of Bianca’s in Section 303
• Jonjo O’Neill as Edward Carver — the MI6 fixer tasked with investigating suspected leaks in Section 303
• Richard Dormer as Norman Stoke — the Jackal’s gunsmith and a former “blackneck” in the Ulster Volunteer Force

When is The Day of the Jackal season 2 release date (Australia or otherwise)?

An official The Day of the Jackal season 2 release date has not been set for the US, UK, or Australia.

In the lead-up to its November 2024 premiere, filming for the series officially kicked off in June 2023 and took place in four different countries: Budapest, Hungary and its neighbouring regions to begin with, then Vienna in July 2023, followed by Croatia that autumn (Rijeka, Pag, Opatija, the central Istrian region).

Assuming the second season will require another 18 months or so, if cameras roll any time within Q1 of 2025, that means we can reasonably expect The Day of the Jackal season 2 around mid-to-late 2026.

That’s also on the provision that Eddie Redmayne isn’t too hamstrung by his own undoubtedly packed schedule of commitments.

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Has The Day of the Jackal season 2 trailer been dropped yet?

There definitely isn’t a trailer (or any kind of preview) for The Day of the Jackal season 2. Stay tuned for all the crucial updates.

The Day of the Jackal is now streaming via Binge here in Australia.

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