Eddie Redmayne says Day of the Jackal scripts 'discombobulated' him: 'It threw me off course'

Eddie Redmayne had an immediate connection to his latest project — even if it "discombobulated" him at times.

The Oscar winner plays the titular assassin in Peacock's upcoming thriller Day of the Jackal, based on Frederick Forsyth’s 1971 novel of the same name. The mysterious killer for hire was first brought to life on screen in a 1973 movie adaptation starring Edward Fox as the Jackal, who is hired to take out French President Charles de Gaulle while a police detective unravels his true identity.

“It was one of those movies that my family would watch again and again and again,” Redmayne, who also serves as an executive producer, tells Entertainment Weekly. “And so I thought, wow, this is bold, that they're going to try and reimagine this. And what I read, I just found completely thrilling and compelling, and at each moment it threw me off course and it kind of discombobulated me, but I couldn't stop turning the pages... I hadn't done television for a few years, but the idea of getting to spend a proper amount of time with this enigma felt like great material to mine.” 

The scripts that made Redmayne's head swirl update the plot for modern times — and provide more insight into who the Jackal really is, making the 10-episode series "a completely different piece" that has "been reconceived and contemporized with a new target."

The series begins with the Jackal pulling off a high-profile kill from a distance that should have been impossible. The remarkable shot draws the attention of a client whose offer, risky as it may be, could mean retirement for the hit man. But, unfortunately for the Jackal, it also draws the attention of British Intelligence, turning the hunter into the hunted. 

“One of the things that appealed to me about doing this series was, in Edward Fox's version — it's two hours, that movie — Edward is so filled with charisma… and kind of wit and elegance, but you never get to learn anything about it,” Redmayne says. “I wanted to see if through this 10-hour thing, we could get to know someone, but always be second guessing.”

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Indeed, the Jackal keeps not only the audience, but those around him constantly on their toes — particularly MI6 arms specialist Bianca Pullman, played by No Time to Die star Lashana Lynch. Bianca becomes obsessed with finding out the Jackal’s identity, to the detriment of her career and family. “She is so determined to be this strange version of human superhero — and I say strange version because it's all the twisted elements of things that you would hope that a human wouldn't do when doing good for the world,” Lynch, a co-executive producer, tells EW, adding that, “The way that she goes about her work means that there has to be a fall off and a sacrifice somewhere. And unfortunately for her, that sacrifice and the racking of the brain is worth it.” 

What both Bianca and the Jackal put themselves through — and the destruction they leave — as they traverse Europe to carry out their missions will surely have viewers questioning their judgment. “People working for good and people working for bad can have such similarities,” Lynch says. “At the end of the day, they both just have jobs to do.”

Those jobs just might cost them everything.

The Day of the Jackal premieres Nov. 7 on Peacock.