Eddie Redmayne is your next hit man in Peacock’s The Day Of The Jackal teaser

Hit men are having a moment, huh? As Glen Powell’s character observed in Hit Man, it might not be a real job, but it is the subject of endless cultural fascination. That’s how we’ve ended up with yet another assassin cat-and-mouse game premiering on Peacock on November 7. In The Day Of The Jackal teaser, it’s Eddie Redmayne playing the disguise-shifting killer and Lashana Lynch as the law enforcement official trying to take him down. 

Based on the 1971 novel by Frederick Forsyth (which was previously adapted into the Oscar-nominated 1973 thriller of the same name), the series “follows an unrivaled and highly elusive lone assassin, the Jackal (Eddie Redmayne), who makes his living carrying out hits for the highest fee. But following his latest kill, he meets his match in a tenacious British intelligence officer (Lashana Lynch) who starts to track down the Jackal in a thrilling cat-and-mouse chase across Europe, leaving destruction in its wake.” 

The teaser for The Day Of The Jackal sets up a premise a lot like Killing Eve, but without the sense of humor. Lynch’s character is bound and determined to track down the Jackal, despite his infamous slipperiness. Redmayne appears to be playing the killer as cold and sociopathic, a man without an identity. Nevertheless, “You know who I am,” he intones ominously over the trailer. The series sets itself apart from its predecessor by introducing new characters, like the one played by Úrsula Corberó. It’s unclear from the teaser where she fits in the battle between Redmayne and Lynch, but she’s definitely in the middle of it—and possibly romantically linked to the mysterious murderer. 

The Day Of The Jackal, written by Ronan Bennett, also stars Charles Dance, Richard Dormer, Chukwudi Iwuji, Lia Williams, Khalid Abdalla, Eleanor Matsuura, Jonjo O’Neill, Nick Blood, Sule Rimi, and Florisa Kamara.