The Day of the Jackal is one of the most well-known and most respected British novels of the 20th century. It follows a professional killer who is hired by a French paramilitary dissident with the task of murdering French president Charles de Gaulle. The novel has three parts: "Anatomy of a Plot", "Anatomy of a Manhunt", and "Anatomy of a Kill".
Brian Kirk (Game of Thrones) will direct and Ronan Bennet will serve as writer and showrunner. Bennett became famous due to his work on Top Boy (2011), the series that was taken over by Netflix that revolves around drugs and gang violence in London.
Carnival boss Gareth Neame said that the adaptation would remain true to its source: We’ll retain the pan-European setting and play to the strengths of episodic television in this fast-paced, intelligent international thriller with the story of an assassin and the race to stop him still at the heart of the action.”
Gabriel Silver, Sam Hoyle, and Zai Bennett are commissionaires. Neame produces alongside Nigel Marchant, the original author Forsyth is the advising producer and Christopher Hall is also a producer. Peacock has acquired the American distribution rights, Sky has acquired the UK and various European countries and NBCUniversal Global Distribution will distribute in some remaining markets.
