The Day of the Jackal Season 2 Hit by Shock Exit in Major Shake-Up
Cameras are about to roll on season two of the spy thriller, with a new writer taking the helm and raising the stakes.
Spy thriller fans, quick heads-up: The Day of the Jackal is shaking up its writers room just as season 2 gears up to shoot. It is one of those behind-the-scenes swaps that could actually shift the show’s vibe in a meaningful way.
What is changing (and who is taking over)
Ronan Bennett, who launched the series and steered season 1, is stepping aside as head writer to focus on other projects (Variety points to Mobland season 2 and Channel 4’s Army of Shadows as likely candidates). In his place, the show has tapped David Harrower — the playwright and screenwriter behind the Colin Firth-fronted miniseries Lockerbie: A Search for Truth, which drew strong notices when it premiered on Sky Atlantic and NOW earlier this year. That is a solid get.
Producer Gareth Neame has already teased that season 2 might lean closer to Frederick Forsyth’s classic source novel than the first run did. In his words:
There were "lots of elements from the novel that we didn’t utilise in season 1" that could surface next time — with the aim of "another very lavish" thriller.
Where season 1 left things
Eddie Redmayne plays the Jackal — not cuddly, very lethal — and season 1 followed MI6 agent Bianca Pullman (Lashana Lynch, pulling double franchise duty with Marvel and 007) as she tracked him across the globe. The show largely went its own way story-wise, giving the Jackal an unexpected human layer via Nuria (Money Heist’s Ursula Corbero) and a young son. That double life imploded in the finale, leaving a pile of unresolved questions and one major character who appeared to be dead. Operative word: appeared.
The inside baseball bit
Season 1 played in Forsyth’s sandbox but pretty freely. Bringing in Harrower — fresh off a serious-minded, fact-based drama — and pulling more directly from the novel suggests season 2 could tighten the screws and feel a little closer to the Jackal’s roots. If they keep the season 1 scale and style that Neame calls "very lavish," we might get the best of both worlds: glossy spectacle and a sharper connection to the original DNA.
Who is in this thing
- Eddie Redmayne as the Jackal
- Lashana Lynch as MI6’s Bianca Pullman
- Ursula Corbero as Nuria
- Chukwudi Iwuji (Guardians Vol 3)
- Lia Williams (Mr Bates vs The Post Office)
- Eleanor Matsuura (The Walking Dead)
- Nick Blood (Slow Horses)
- Charles Dance (Game of Thrones)
- Created by Ronan Bennett (stepping down as head writer); season 2 writing led by David Harrower (Lockerbie: A Search for Truth)
- Based on Frederick Forsyth’s novel, first filmed in 1973
When and where to watch
The Day of the Jackal season 2 is coming soon to Sky and NOW. Cameras are expected to roll shortly, so more concrete timing should follow once production gets underway.