Academy, Tony, and BAFTA award winning actor Eddie Redmayne to star in and executive produce Sky & Peacock original series The Day of the Jackal

Tuesday 21 March 2023

Produced by Carnival Films, which is part of Universal International Studios

 Ronan Bennett (Top Boy, Public Enemies) will serve as writer and showrunner 

 Brian Kirk (Game of Thrones, Luther) is attached to direct 

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Sky and Peacock announced today that Academy, Tony and BAFTA award winning actor  Eddie Redmayne (The Good Nurse, Trial of The Chicago Seven and The Theory of Everything) will star in the new original television series The Day of the Jackal in the lead role of the Jackal. Redmayne will also serve as executive producer on the project. The series is based on the seminal Frederick Forsyth thriller and subsequent award-winning 1973 film adaptation of the same name from Universal Pictures. 

Redmayne most recently received critical acclaim leading to BAFTA, SAG and Golden Globe nominations for his chilling performance in Netflix’s The Good Nurse, starring opposite Jessica Chastain. Redmayne gave his Academy Award winning performance in The Theory of Everything and has starred in award-winning projects including The Trial of The Chicago Seven, The Danish Girl  and Les Miserables. In 2022, Redmayne led the electrifying West End revival of Cabaret alongside Academy Award nominee Jessie Buckley. The actor helped initiate the project and starred as The Emcee, for which he went on to win the Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical. The show won a record breaking seven Olivier awards total including Musical Revival. He has also graced the stage in The Goat or Who is Sylvia?, Now or Later, Richard II and Red, for which he also won Tony and Olivier Awards. 

The Day of the Jackal  is a bold, modern reimagining of the beloved and respected novel and film. While staying true to the DNA of the original story, this contemporary drama will delve deeper into the chameleon like ‘anti-hero’ at the heart of the story in a high octane, cinematic, globetrotting 'cat and mouse' thriller, set amidst the turbulent geo-political landscape of our time.

Irish screenwriter and novelist Ronan Bennett, creator and writer of the critically acclaimed global hit Top Boy, is attached as writer and showrunner. Bennett’s writing credits also include the BBC One series Gunpowder starring Kit Harrington, as well as screenplays for films such as Face and Public Enemies starring Johnny Depp and Christian Bale. Internationally award-winning Director Brian Kirk, whose television credits include Game of Thrones, Luther, Boardwalk Empire and feature film 21 Bridges is set to direct the series. 

The Day of the Jackal will be produced by Downton Abbey and The Last Kingdom producers Carnival Films, which is part of Universal International Studios, a division of Universal Studio Group and was commissioned by Sky Studios and Peacock. 

Gareth Neame, CEO & Executive Producer at Carnival Films said: “We are excited to bring to life Ronan Bennett’s re-imagining of Forsyth’s revered thriller in the complex world in which we live today and are incredibly fortunate to have an actor of Eddie’s calibre as our Jackal. Paired with Ronan’s screenplay and Brian Kirk’s direction, this is a first-class creative team.” 

Production on the series will commence this year. Gareth Neame and Nigel Marchant are Executive Producers for Carnival Films. Frederick Forsyth will serve as Consulting Producer and Christopher Hall is Producer. Sam Hoyle is Executive Producer for Sky Studios. 

The series will be available on Peacock in the US and on Sky in the UK, Ireland, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Austria. NBCUniversal Global Distribution will handle international sales of the series. 

Press Contacts

Sky: thom.will@sky.uk

Peacock: joey.levine@nbcuni.com

Universal International Studios & Carnival: can.salahi@nbcuni.com

Sky is one of Europe’s leading media and entertainment companies and is part of Comcast Corporation, a global media and technology company that connects people to moments and experiences that matter. At Sky we Believe in Better. It’s in our DNA.

We’re famous for innovation. We offer streaming services NOW and WOW; the world’s smartest TV, Sky Glass; and the best aggregation platform, Sky Q. We provide connectivity you can count on in mobile, and fast, secure, reliable residential and business broadband.

We’re Europe’s premium content producer. We create award-winning original content, produce the biggest live sporting events, and we provide free access to news and the arts.

We believe that we can have a positive impact on society, by supporting and creating tens of thousands of jobs, addressing digital inequality, being a diverse and inclusive employer, and becoming net zero carbon by 2030.

Peacock is NBCUniversal’s streaming service. Peacock delivers a world-class slate of exclusive originals, on-demand libraries of hit TV shows, plus critically acclaimed films from the vaults of Universal Pictures, Focus Features, DreamWorks Animation, Illumination, and Hollywood’s biggest studios. In addition, Peacock taps into NBCUniversal’s unmatched ability to deliver a broad range of compelling topical content across news, sports, late-night, Spanish-language, and reality. NBCUniversal is a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation.

Carnival Films  is a London-based television and feature film production company, which is part of Universal International Studios, a division of Universal Studio Group. Led by producers, Executive Chairman Gareth Neame and Managing Director Nigel Marchant, the company is one of the UK's leading drama producers, having made hundreds of hours of compelling content for millions across the globe. Carnival Films produced all six seasons of the award-winning and beloved TV phenomenon Downton Abbey, which aired in over 250 territories worldwide and set a Guinness World Record for being the most critically well-received show in the world.

The company produced the hit feature film of the same name, which earned more than $193 million at the worldwide box office in 2019, making it the highest grossing film of all time for distributor Focus Features. The movie sequel Downton Abbey: A New Era was released in 2022. Other Carnival Films productions include  Belgravia for ITV and EPIX, of which the spin-off series titled  Belgravia: The Next Chapter is currently in production for MGM+, and smash-hit series The Last Kingdom for Netflix, which has captivated viewers for five seasons and currently has a feature film on the way. A contemporary TV remake of  Day of the Jackal  is currently in production for Sky and Peacock. In addition to receiving more than 200 international awards and honours including Primetime Emmys, Golden Globes and BAFTAs, Carnival Films has also produced landmark series such as Poirot, Hotel Babylon, Whitechapel, and Jamestown, along with the award-winning mini-series Traffik, Any Human Heart, The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies and The Hollow Crown anthology.

 For more information, please visit

 www.carnivalfilms.co.uk

Universal International Studios (UIS), a division of Universal Studio Group, delivers award-winning content to millions across the globe. Based in London, the in-house production labels include  Carnival Films (Downton Abbey), Matchbox Pictures (Made in Chelsea), Working Title Television (We Are Lady Parts) and Heyday Television (Apples Never Fall). The studio also backs Tony Ayres Productions (Fires) and owns an equity stake in Lark Productions (The Glass Hotel) in Canada. Led by President Beatrice Springborn, UIS' scripted unit develops and produces original series such Dodger, Everyone Else Burns and The Undeclared War. The studio also houses NBCUniversal Formats, bringing a diverse slate of scripted and unscripted formats to the global market, including The Real Housewives, Top Chef, That's My Jam and Superstore.

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