Eddie Redmayne’s assassin thriller The Day of the Jackal is officially staying in the crosshairs, with season 2 now locked into a 2027 release year and multiple industry sources converging on a spring window for its debut on Peacock and Sky. After a roughly three-year gap between seasons, the renewed timetable gives fans a clearer idea of when they will next see the enigmatic Jackal back in action across the streaming platforms’ shared international spy sandbox.
The series reimagines Frederick Forsyth’s classic 1971 novel as a contemporary, serialized thriller produced by Carnival Film & Television for Peacock in the U.S. and Sky in the U.K. and Europe. Season 1 reportedly shot in late summer and autumn of 2023 and then spent around a year in post-production before premiering in fall 2024, establishing the show’s slow-burn pacing and high-production-value look. The response was strong enough that the second season was commissioned before the first had even finished airing, with trade reports in late November 2024 confirming the renewal and noting that the creative team had planned ahead by adjusting the ending of the original story to support a multi-season arc. Within weeks of the finale, outlets like TVLine and NBC’s own insider coverage revealed that Redmayne would be back, with the actor himself assuring viewers in a video message that the Jackal hates loose ends and would return for more.
Since then, season 2 has quietly moved through production, with reports indicating that filming took place across several European locations, including London, Budapest, Croatia, and areas near Vienna, as the show leaned harder into its globe-trotting espionage feel. At the 2026 Edinburgh TV Festival, Sky’s director of original drama Meghan Lyvers revealed that the second season is already “in the edit” and pointed to spring 2027 as the targeted release window, tightening the previously broad 2027 timeframe into something fans can actually circle on their mental calendars. That aligns with NBCUniversal’s 2026 upfronts presentations, where the company’s streaming slate positioned The Day of the Jackal season 2 in a 2027 slot for Sky and Peacock, with commentators noting that a March-to-June premiere window is the most likely range. Earlier speculation from lifestyle outlets had floated a 2026 arrival based on season 1’s timeline, but those estimates have now been overtaken by the more recent official and semi-official guidance pointing squarely at 2027.
Creatively, the second season exists because the team behind the show never intended this adaptation to be a one-and-done retelling of Forsyth’s novel. Executive producer Gareth Neame explained in interviews referenced by coverage in early 2025 that they altered the original ending and deliberately kept certain characters alive, knowing there was already a plan for a continuation. That approach turns the Jackal’s mission from a single, closed-book assignment into a longer-running exploration of the character as a mercenary operating in a shifting geopolitical landscape, with season 2 expected to push deeper into the fallout from the first run’s twist-heavy finale. For Redmayne, who has spoken enthusiastically about the role in multiple outlets, the return offers a chance to further inhabit a cold, methodical killer whose moral ambiguity is part of the series’ appeal.
From a platform perspective, the extended wait until 2027 fits into Peacock and Sky’s broader strategy of banking European co-productions that can serve both as prestige drama and bingeable genre fare, alongside other thrillers in their transatlantic pipeline. The drawn-out production and post-production schedule also signals that The Day of the Jackal remains a carefully curated project rather than a quickly turned-around procedural, which should reassure fans who latched onto the show’s meticulous style and international scope in season 1. With no specific month or day locked in publicly yet, viewers will likely see more precise dating — and the first real footage from season 2 — emerge as Peacock and Sky roll out their 2027 slates, but current guidance is clear that any claims of a concrete premiere date beyond the spring 2027 window are still speculative.
In the meantime, the first season remains the essential prep work for returning to the Jackal’s world, especially as season 2 is poised to build directly on the unresolved tensions and surviving characters intentionally carried forward by the writers. Peacock continues to promote the series as a key assassination thriller on its platform, and NBC’s own insider coverage underscores that the Jackal will indeed be back, keeping anticipation simmering as the show heads through the edit bay and toward its spring 2027 rendezvous with viewers. For now, fans can only speculate about where the next mission will take Redmayne’s mercenary antihero, but at least they know when to expect the crosshairs to reappear.
