The Day of the Jackal Review
Reinterpreting Characters in Classic Stories: Staying True While Breaking New Ground
Adaptations of classic stories often walk a tightrope between honoring the source material and bringing something new to the table. The Day of the Jackal (2024), a recently released limited British television series, provides an excellent case study of how a well-loved story can evolve to reflect contemporary sensibilities, offering fresh perspectives while risking alienating fans of the original. By analyzing its reinterpretation of the Jackal, his opposition, and his target, we can explore the broader implications of reimagining characters from beloved works.
The Jackal: From Enigma to Depth
[Note: I’m completely skipping over the 1997 loose remake of the original novel. That movie, titled The Jackal, received pretty much uniformly bad reviews. Starring Bruce Willis and Richard Gere, the latter using what is surely one of the least authentic Irish accents in modern filmdom, is an adaption that is mostly enjoyable for giving Jack Black the treatment his character deserves for overacting.]
In the original novel and its 1973 film adaptation, the Jackal is a cold, methodical assassin—a professional whose motivations are secondary to his execution of the task at hand. And in both of those versions, the personal details of the assassin and his motivations are left unknown. The 2024 adaptation flips this script by giving the Jackal a family and exploring his backstory, particularly his time in Afghanistan.
This shift adds layers to the character. A family humanizes him, creating moral tension and blurring the lines between villain and anti-hero. The Afghanistan subplot delves into his training and how he became the man he is, providing insight into his motivations. These choices invite viewers to empathize—or at least understand—the Jackal in ways previous versions didn’t. However, they also risk detracting from the mystique that made the original character so compelling.
Can a figure like the Jackal retain his power as a cinematic force if he’s no longer an inscrutable enigma? At a couple of different points in the series, I wondered if perhaps I was learning too much about the Jackal. Knowing too much about a character where the story demands that the character retain some element of mystery can be the downfall of a promising story. In this case, I needn’t have worried – the final couple of episodes put the story solidly back in place.
The Female MI6 Agent: Strengthened Oppositional Dynamics
Another bold move in the 2024 version is the introduction of Bianca Pullman, a female MI6 agent as the Jackal’s primary adversary. This choice aligns with modern trends to diversify representation in media and challenges the traditionally male-dominated world of espionage thrillers.
However, representation must be paired with consistent and credible character development. While the agent is introduced as a weapons expert, moments of apparent unfamiliarity with firearms undermine her credibility and leave viewers questioning the authenticity of her expertise. One scene in particular stood out: she’s questioning the owner of a gun range but doesn’t seem to know anything about ballistics or the physics of long-range shooting. This highlights a broader challenge in adaptations: ensuring that diversity and representation are integrated seamlessly into the narrative rather than feeling performative or contrived.
Also, the interactions between Bianca and her estranged husband and teenaged daughter seemed a little too modern-woman-having-to-balance-family-and-career to be realistic. That angle of the story came across as a trope-y and contrived.
The Target: Walking the Line Between Trope and Insight
One of the more polarizing aspects of the 2024 adaptation is its portrayal of the Jackal’s target, a high-profile gay entrepreneur. On one hand, choosing a modern figure aligns with the adaptation’s effort to make the story relevant to contemporary audiences. On the other hand, the portrayal risks falling into caricature, presenting the target in a way that feels both trope-filled and reductive.
This speaks to a larger question in adaptation: how do creators update characters for modern sensibilities without resorting to clichés or tokenism? Authenticity in character design requires depth, nuance, and a willingness to move beyond surface-level traits to explore the character’s humanity.
Balancing Reverence and Reinvention
The challenge of reinterpreting characters lies in striking a balance between reverence for the source material and reinvention to keep it relevant. Successful adaptations often manage to honor the original while introducing changes that feel organic and meaningful. Consider examples like:
Sherlock Holmes (Sherlock, 2010): Benedict Cumberbatch’s portrayal updated Holmes with a modern setting and contemporary quirks while retaining the sharp intellect and eccentricity that define the character.
Elizabeth Bennet (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, 2016): A radical departure that juxtaposed Jane Austen’s social commentary with supernatural elements, though not universally loved, offered a novel take on a classic heroine.
James Bond (No Time to Die, 2021): Daniel Craig’s Bond became more emotionally vulnerable, adding depth to a character traditionally seen as stoic and unyielding.
Each of these examples shows how reinterpretation can expand on the original, but missteps—like inconsistent characterization—can detract from the final product.
A Fine Line Between Fresh and Gimmicky
New adaptations of classic stories often find themselves walking a precarious tightrope. On one side lies the opportunity to breathe fresh life into a beloved narrative, offering interpretations that feel authentic and resonant for a new audience. On the other side, there’s the risk of creating something that feels overly focused on current cultural trends, resulting in an adaptation that, while relevant in the moment, may feel dated or superficial in hindsight.
The difference between these two outcomes often determines whether an adaptation holds up over time. Authentic reinterpretations—those rooted in a deep understanding of the original work’s themes—tend to resonate across generations. In contrast, adaptations that prioritize box-checking over storytelling depth often struggle to stand the test of time. The Day of the Jackal (2024) has moments of brilliance where it deepens the story’s core, such as the exploration of the Jackal’s family and backstory. However, other elements, like its portrayal of certain characters, veer dangerously close to feeling gimmicky, leaving their long-term resonance in question.
Uncharted Territory: The Risk of a Second Season [Spoiler Alert!]
The decision to leave the Jackal alive at the end of the 2024 adaptation marks a bold departure from Frederick Forsyth’s original novel and its earlier adaptations. The Jackal’s death in the novel was not just a conclusion—it was a statement about the cost of hubris and the inevitability of justice. Venturing beyond that clear endpoint into a second season introduces significant risks.
Without the anchor of the original story’s fatal conclusion, a second season runs the risk of turning the series into a more conventional spy thriller. While that’s not inherently a bad direction, it does risk diluting the unique tension and intrigue that defined the original narrative. As someone who’s followed The Day of the Jackal across its many iterations—reading the novel when it first came out and watching previous adaptations—this departure feels personal. It’s as though the story belongs, in part, to its long-time fans, and any deviation carries the weight of that investment.
Conclusion: The Power of Adaptation
The 2024 Day of the Jackal demonstrates both the promise and pitfalls of reimagining classic characters. By giving the Jackal a family and a nuanced backstory, the creators deepened his humanity, but they risked diluting his mystique. The introduction of a female MI6 agent brought fresh dynamics to the story, but inconsistent writing weakened her portrayal. The modernized target reflected contemporary issues but flirted with reductive tropes.
Adaptations succeed when they preserve the core essence of the original while evolving to speak to their time. In reimagining beloved stories, creators have an opportunity to introduce these characters to new audiences and spark fresh conversations about timeless themes. The real question is whether these changes enhance the story’s resonance—or detract from its legacy.