‘Marvel’ and ‘James Bond’ star thrills in new spy offering ‘Day of the Jackal’

Eddie Redmayne and Captain Marvel star Lashana Lynch are winning rave reviews for their performances in Day of the Jackal, the new 10-episode Peacock series based on Frederick Forsyth’s novel and 1973 film of the same name.

Day of the Jackal: Watch now on Peacock

Redmayne plays Jackal, an assassin who is being hunted by Bianca, an M16 agent played by Lynch. In the original novel, Jackal is hired by a paramilitary group to kill French President Charles de Gaulle and is up against the work of detective Claude Lebel, who hopes to stop Jackal before he can carry out his plan. The 1973 movie has long been considered one of the best pieces of British cinema to date and was a faithful adaptation of the novel.

The newest installment in the franchise was adapted for more modern times – after all, for many outside of France, Charles de Gaulle is the name of an airport in Paris. This time around Jackal’s target is a well-known philanthropist who has developed software that will share with the public how billionaires spend their money. Redmayne’s character is also hired for additional small jobs throughout the series.

“It was a long shoot,” Redmayne told We Got This Covered of the project when he was interviewed in October. Lynch added the shoot was “Eight months” and added that the pair were working “out of Budapest in Hungary. But then Croatia…and a couple of weeks in London.”

“When you get to play with locations, I think we both worked on sound stages and green screen and blue screen and those things bring – you really have to tap into imagination for those things,” Lynch said. “Here you have the beauty of your environment, and really utilizing that as a character in the piece. And it’s – that character is so important throughout these 10 episodes, you get to really live with each of these characters’ experience within those places. And it just really raises the sophistication and the scope of the show.”

The duo received high praise from film and TV critic Max Covill, who noted in his review that Lynch “is terrific here as she fights between what she believes to be righteous and the blood of her hands.”

Day of the Jackal is now available to stream on Peacock. The series premiered in the United States on Nov. 14. The series premiered worldwide on Nov. 7, 2024.