Eddie Redmayne will play a professional assassin in THE DAY OF THE JACKAL series for Peacock

Eddie Redmayne (Fantastic Beasts, The Good Nurse) will play a professional assassin in a new series project staged in Peacock titled The Day of the Jackaland will play The Jackal.

In the story, The Jackel is a hit man hired by a French paramilitary dissident to kill French President Charles de Gaulle in 1962. The project is based on the book series by Frederick Forsyth as well as Universal Pictures’ 1973 film adaptation.

As might be expected from Hollywood, the story is reimagined in a contemporary setting “in the midst of the current turbulent geopolitical landscape and will delve into the chameleon as an ‘anti-hero'”.

The series was developed by Top boy Creator Ronan Bennett, who writes and serves as showrunner. It will be directed by Brian Kirkknown for his work on game of Thrones AND Luther.

Producer Gareth Neam said in a statement, “We are thrilled to bring Ronan Bennett’s reimagining of Forsyth’s revered thriller to life in the complex world we live in today, and we are incredibly fortunate to have an actor of Eddie’s caliber as our Jackal. Paired with Ronan’s screenplay and Brian Kirk’s direction, this is a first-class creative team.”

Here is a description from the book:

The Jackal. A tall, blond Englishman with dull gray eyes. An assassin at the pinnacle of his profession. A man unknown to any secret service in the world. An assassin with a contract to kill the most watched man alive.

A man with a rifle who can change the course of history. A man whose mission is so secret that not even his employers know his name. And as the minutes tick down to the final act of execution, there seems to be no power on earth that can stop the Jackal.

Sound like a series you’d like to watch?

Source: Deadline