Just the other day, I was talking about how the season 1 finale of "The Day of the Jackal" has a shot to unseat "Slow Horses" as the king of the spy thriller shows. And let's just say it did not disappoint. If you haven't watched that episode already, stop what you're doing and watch it now.
After watching the season 1 finale, I had a chance to sit down with a few members of the "Day of the Jackal" creative team to discuss the end of season 1 and what to expect in season 2. We also discussed some of the finer details of the show, including its killer soundtrack and score.
But it wasn't just anyone that I got to chat with over Zoom. I was lucky enough to get the showrunner himself Gareth Neame and his fellow executive producer Nigel Marchant (both of "Downton Abbey" fame) to spend a few minutes with me discussing some things that stood out to me while watching the 10-episode first season of "The Day of the Jackal".
So without further ado, here are the five things you need to know about "The Day of the Jackal" season 1 finale, season 2 and more, all from the show's executive producers themselves.
The following interview has been edited for length and clarity. Spoilers for season 1 of "The Day of the Jackal" should be expected beyond this point.
'If you were just going to remake the movie, it can't be better'
The part of my conversation with Neame and Marchant that surprised me the most was that, apparently, there was some hesitancy about making this show in the first place. You'd think that this adaptation was merely a play to cash in again on a successful intellectual property. But according to Neame, if that was the case, they wouldn't have done it.
"For about a year we decided we didn't want to pursue this because we love the book. We admire the movie enormously," Neame said. "We didn't really have any interest in doing a kind of straight remake."
But once they decided they could take the idea of the story, or as Neame puts it, "the DNA" and turn it into a new original series, they were ready to take it to Ronan Bennett (the show's creator), who then ran with it.
That said, they didn't abandon the 1971 book or the 1973 movie entirely. Marchant said that one thing he loved in the creative process was taking things from the source material and dropping them in the show as Easter eggs. When I asked him about his favorite, he immediately had an answer.
"I'd say the watermelon that we put in there that feels absolutely so iconic. Anthony [Philipson] who directs that, [did a] shot-for-shot remake of it."
Neame also seemed to be excited to discuss the little bits that harken back to the book and movie that's so beloved by many. "'You'll need a code name. Why not The Jackal? Why not?' You know, those are all direct dialog lifts from the novel."
Eddie Redmayne wasn't a guarantee to be 'The Jackal'
It'd be easy to assume that Eddie Redmayne and Lashanna Lynch were attached to this show from the start. Both are acclaimed British actors, both are listed as executive producers on season 1 and Redmayne is coming back for season 2. However, the show wasn't originally sold with Redmayne or Lynch attached.
That said, Marchant says that Redmayne was always in consideration for the part: "He was a frontrunner, and I think he embodied the kind of Britishness of that character and felt very much in keeping with the kind of Edward Fox of the original [1973 film adaptation]."
But it wasn't just Redmayne's "Britishness" that had him in the drivers seat for Alexander Duggan aka "The Jackal." "He [Redmayne] is so meticulous as an actor," Marchant said. "He really digs into his craft, and very much that was part of the character itself as well. He did a lot of you know, learning all the languages, body movement coaches, so that it felt a very natural fit that felt very truthful to the original, and yet felt updated."
Lynch too was clearly a natural fit if Marchant's praise is any indication. "She's a brilliant actress, but she has a physicality. She could do the action sequences. So it felt very natural for the pair of them [to be cast]."
Season 2 of 'The Day of the Jackal' goes beyond the book
For those who aren't familiar with the book or the 1973 film adaptation, both have a different ending than the show. And a conclusive ending at that. This was a hurdle that the show's creative team was aware of from the outset when crafting "The Day of the Jackal" as a TV show.
Obviously, the two headlines are the people who double-crossed him and the wife who got away.
— Gareth Neame, showrunner
"We didn't really want to talk about a second season," Neame said when I asked him about it. "There's a finite ending to the novel and the movie. So we didn't really want to give any indication about that. But obviously, we're TV producers, so it's about hopefully multiple seasons and episodic [storytelling] and playing to the strengths of that."
And there is a plan for season 2, though it's not fully mapped out. As Neame says, "You never know whether you're getting the second season or not. I don't think you want too much of it planned so you can respond to what people you know enjoyed about the show and lean into all of the strengths."
Season 2 will address the two biggest unanswered questions from the season 1 finale
By the end of the season 1 finale, there are two paths that Eddie Redmayne's Alexander Duggan aka "The Jackal" can take. He can either go after the people who betrayed him — namely Timothy Winthrop (Charles Dance) — or he can go after his wife Nuria (Úrsula Corberó) and son Carlito.
And it's clear in his conversation with his former handler Zina Jansone (Eleanor Matsuura) that Duggan will try to find his family before getting revenge on Winthrop. But the show's creatives want you to know both items are very much on the table in season 2.
"There's a theme that runs throughout that first season of can The Jackal have these two separate worlds?" says Marchant. "Can he have his cake and eat it? A home life and being an assassin. We get to the end of those [in season 1], that's fallen apart. So the question in the second [season] is, can you make that work? Or are they fundamentally opposed? Or certainly, that's the question that we ask at the end of the first season."
If you want killer music, hire award winners
I think we've picked the right Academy Award winners to work on this show between [Eddie] Redmayne and Volker [Bertelmann]. When in doubt, get an Academy Award winner.
— Gareth Neame, showrunner
"The Day of the Jackal" is great all-around, but I couldn't let Neame and Marchant go without discussing the film's incredible score and soundtrack. And while Neame was quick to praise the show's composer Volker Bertelmann (winner of the Academy Award for 2022's "All Quiet on the Western Front"), he made it clear that for the show's incredible needle drops, there was someone else to thank.
"We had this fantastic music supervisor called Cat [Catherine Grieves], who also worked on 'Baby Reindeer.' I don't want to shower another show with praise," Neame jokes, "but that was also a show that had a very good commercial soundtrack, so all credit to her."
Credit to her indeed. If "The Day of the Jackal" will be remembered for anything — and given that the show and Redmayne's performances were just nominated for Golden Globes, it will certainly be remembered — I think it will be the show's opening scene, where Redmayne expertly executes the assassination of German political Manfred Fest to the sound of Radiohead's "Everything in Its Right Place." Watch it above if you don't believe me, and then get ready for "The Day of the Jackal" season 2.
