Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (November 10, 2025)
Frederick Forsyth’s 1971 novel The Day of the Jackal leapt to movie screens in 1973 via a well-reviewed and commercially successful adaptation. The story then reappeared in 1997 in a mildly profitable but not-so-well-rated version called The Jackal.
Forsyth’s tale sees another rendition with a 2024 TV series that reverts to the original title. Season One of The Day of the Jackal spans 10 episodes, and the synopses come from the official website.
Episode 1: “When elite assassin Alexander ‘The Jackal’ Duggan (Eddie Redmayne) carries out his latest kill, it sets off a hunt to bring him to justice.”
The 1973 Day film offered a fairly faithful adaptation of Forsyth’s novel. Both took place in the early 1960s and involved the Jackal’s attempts to assassinate French President Charles de Gaulle.
The 1997 film altered this to then-present day and sent the Jackal after a different target. The 2024 TV series goes the same path, so it takes place in the 2020s and sends the Jackal after billionaire tech entrepreneur Ulle Dag Charles (Khalid Abdalla).
The bones remain the same, though. Both feature the Jackal as he attempts to kill a high-profile figure and law enforcement tries to nip this in the bud.
As expected, E1 acts largely as an expository program. It sets up the characters and situations that we’ll follow the rest of the way.
I can’t claim it does so in a thrilling manner, as despite a little action, E1 doesn’t quite zing. Still, it does what it needs to do in an efficient manner so that mostly works for me.
Episode 2: “Ghosted by his last client, the Jackal's reputation is on the line and he plots revenge.”
E2 gets into Jackal’s life outside of work, and that means time with his wife Nuria (Úrsula Corberó). I didn’t expect the series to dig into Jackal’s personal affairs to this degree so early, and I’m not sure it works.
I guess it humanizes him. However, I feel like it’d make more sense to spend a few shows with him as the cold-blooded assassin before it broadens the role.
In any case, E2 nonetheless manages to push along affairs in a reasonable manner. I still can’t claim to find myself enraptured by the series but it hasn’t done anything to lose me either.
Episode 3: “The Jackal tracks down his wayward client in Munich, determined to settle the score.”
We get complications related to Jackal’s personal life, mainly because it becomes clearer that he hides his work from his wife. This feels somewhat cliché and unnecessary, as I don’t think our glimpses of Jackal “off the job” add value.
Still, the scenes in which we see how he employs his espionage skills succeed, and the investigation into him continues to pay dividends. After three shows, I continue to remain only moderately engaged in the series, but E3 nonetheless moves along matters acceptably well.
Episode 4: “With his vengeance fulfilled, the Jackal flees Munich . MI6 Agent Bianca Pullman (Lashana Lynch) follows a new lead in her hunt.”
In theory, the focus on Jackal’s personal life adds complications and distractions that impact his work. These elements continue to feel like unneeded padding, however.
Beyond those scenes, E4 manages to accelerate the tension, mainly thanks to the parts with Agent Pullman. None of this makes me fully involved in the series but it continues to hold my interest somewhat.
Episode 5: “The Jackal visits gunsmith Norman Stoke (Richard Dormer) with a special commission for his next job, but Bianca starts closing in.”
This series runs precisely six and a half hours longer than the acclaimed 1973 movie. The deeper into this version we go, the more I question whether this becomes a good thing.
Sure, the 2024 production allows for a lot more character emphasis, but I remain unconvinced that this story benefits from this trend. I just find it tough to really invest in Jackal, Bianca or any of the others.
As with the first four shows, E5 continues to keep him moderately engaged. I still don’t find myself more absorbed than that, though.
Episode 6: “The Jackal must escape his captors and regroup, as Bianca tracks his trail of devastation.”
As a bit of a twist, E6 puts Jackal in more jeopardy than usual. He encounters a situation that requires a deft hand to escape.
Which he does, of course. No spoilers, but given that the series ends if Jackal goes bye-bye, it seems obvious that he will regain the upper hand.
Beyond this moderately intriguing story point, E6 largely feels like more of the same. Bianca tracks Jackal, Jackal tries to stay ahead, Jackal deals with his messy personal life, etc. Nothing about E6 disenchants me but it also fails to elevate my level of interest in the overall narrative.
Episode 7: “With Bianca closing in, the Jackal must use all his wiles as he prepares to take his shot.”
When concert hall employee Rasmus (Andreas Jessen) appeared in E4, it felt likely that we’d see him again and that Jackal would use sex to get his way. Episode 7 proves my prediction correct.
Not that Rasmus provides an interesting recurring role, as he clearly exists solely to allow Jackal to pursue his goals. Honestly, the involvement of Rasmus seems more calculated to show that Jackal will seduce men along (presumably) with women to get what he needs.
Or maybe E7 wants to hint Jackal is actually gay and it’s his relationship with his wife that exists as a fraud – who knows? I continue to not particularly care about the series’ character beats and Jackal’s use of Rasmus doesn’t change that.
Nothing else about E7 alters Season One’s trajectory either. I hate to sound like the proverbial broken record, but this remains a sporadically intriguing series that drags too much. Maybe the final three shows will ratchet up the thrills.
Episode 8: “The Jackal goes into hiding as Bianca investigates the past of the mysterious ‘Duggan.’”
This means flashbacks to show how Duggan became Jackal. These elements offer some intrigue but not a lot, as they lack much creativity.
Otherwise, E8 follows further complications as authorities make life difficult for Jackal, especially when his wife essentially learns the truth. This turns into yet another decent but padded show.
Episode 9: “With UDC safe on his Croation island, the Jackal must use all his skills to reach his target.”
As Season One nears its close, E9 attempts to ratchet up the tension – sort of. In theory, it should do that, but in reality, it comes with too much of the extraneous content that bogged own the prior eight shows.
Jackal’s marital relationship reaches a crucial point, and that should matter. However, their entire subplot feels so unnecessary that I can’t muster much interest in what happens with those two.
Or much of anything else. At this point, the only intrigue comes from whether or not Jackal will eventually kill UDC and also if Bianca will catch Jackal, and even those threads don’t do much to tempt me.
Episode 10: “The Jackal is desperate to get back to Nuria but Bianca gets one last shot to bring him to justice.”
It didn’t take Nostradamus to figure out that the S1 finale would revolve around the Jackal/Bianca cat and mouse. The question becomes how E10 resolves this.
Given we already know the studio plans on a second season of the series, that implies Jackal won’t end up imprisoned or dead. Unless S2 jumps into the future and casts Jackal’s toddler son as Jackal Junior, I guess.
Which seems less than likely. Anyway, even though it doesn’t seem like a mystery how S1 will end, that doesn’t mean it lacks thrills.
Though… it kind of doesn’t. Indeed, the biggest problem we encounter here stems from some scenes that make Jackal wholly unsympathetic to the audience.
Not that he ever came across as a likable character. He becomes the series’ protagonist simply due to our conditioning to see the lead/title role as the “hero”.
But Jackal really represents a reprehensible person. Aspects of his family relationship try to humanize him but even beyond his “paid assassin” status, he performs actions that ensure the audience can’t bond with him.
Fatal flaw? Maybe not, but it doesn’t help make the series more compelling since I maintain no investment in Jackal’s fate.
Anyway, E10 wraps some plot threads but inevitably leaves open the door for that second season I mentioned. Like the prior nine shows, E10 musters enough drama to keep us with it but it fails to do more than that.
Really, my biggest problem with the TV Day of the Jackal stems from the manner in which it stretches its content to fill an entire 10-show collection. As mentioned earlier, it runs six and a half hours longer than the 1973 movie and it doesn’t find especially lively ways to occupy all that extra time.
The series just feels padded and its attempts to add depth to the characters don’t work especially well. I didn’t dislike the time I spent with Day of the Jackal but I didn’t especially enjoy it, either.
