The Day of the Jackal has quickly become Sky‘s biggest ever series so it is no wonder the channel and its co-partners at Peacock have decided to renew it for a second series.
Starring Eddie Redmayne and Lashana Lynch, the series follows the former’s titular assassin The Jackal and the cat-and-mouse game with MI5 agent Bianca (Lynch). The first series sees The Jackal be hired to kill a powerful businessman whose new tech start-up intends to reveal where all the money in the world is being sent and by whom, effectively revealing corruption across the board.
As The Jackal gets closer to his target his personal life begins to unravel when his wife Nuria (Úrsula Corberó) begins to uncover his secrets, while Bianca is hellbent on stopping him before he can kill again. With more to come in the Sky series, here is everything that we know so far but be warned this article contains some spoilers.
No news has yet been confirmed about The Day of the Jackal’s second series beyond its renewal, which means that there is no official release date. However, viewers can expect filming to begin —at the earliest— in 2025, which means the series is most likely to return in 2026.
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In the UK, The Day of the Jackal has become Sky’s biggest original series ever and it had the biggest launch of the platform in over two years after 3 million viewers tuned in for its first week, which saw five episodes be released at once. Since then the series has been released on a weekly basis, originally it was meant to come out in two batches of five but Sky pivoted after its success.
The Day of the Jackal is a modern remake of Frederick Forsyth’s novel of the same name, which is set in 1962 and sees the assassin be contracted to kill Charles de Gaulle, the president of France, by French dissident paramilitary group the OAS. The 1973 movie adaptation has the same plot, but the series was modernised to distinguish itself from the source material and the much beloved Edward Fox film.
Series 1 ends on a dramatic note with The Jackal seemingly killing Bianca after she tried and failed to take down the assassin at his Spanish home. While it is possible for the show’s writing team to resurrect Lynch’s character in some way it is also entirely possible that they won’t and someone else will take her place and get revenge.
No official plot details have been revealed for The Day of the Jackal’s second series, but as it ends with The Jackal still in action and ready to find his wife Nuria it seems likely he’ll try to track her down. It was also suggested that the assassin will be contracted to kill Charles Dance’s financier character Timothy Winthrop in future episodes.
Given the events of the finale it is to be expected that Redmayne will return as The Jackal, as will Corberó as his wife Nuria. Dance and Eleanor Matsuura may also reprise their roles as Timothy Winthrop and Zina Jansone, respectively.
Given Bianca’s fate appears to have been sealed in the finale it is not likely that Lynch will return for the second series, but there is a possibility of her coming back if the writers decide to change her fate.
The Day of the Jackal is out now on Sky and NOW.
