The Day of the Jackal premiered its first season finale on December 12, 2024, and while fans have been hooked to the show right from its beginning, the finale has witnessed a shocking reaction. The ending was different from the book and the movie it was adapted from.
The show focuses on Eddie Redmayne’s character, the Jackal, a fierce assassin who also has a family life. There is also Lashana Lynch, playing the character of Bianca, a British operative, who is hell-bent on arresting the Jackal.
Everything falls into place in the tenth episode as Bianca and the Jackal face each other for one final time. Let us now explore in detail how the ending of The Day of the Jackal differs from the book and why the creators decide to go with this alternative finale.
The following article contains spoilers.
How does The Day of the Jackal end differently than the book?
In a drastic change of plotline, The Day of the Jackal ends with Jackal shooting Bianca, and killing her. However, in the book and the movie, Claude Lebel, the Deputy Commissioner gets hold of the Jackal and kills him and later attends his funeral as well.
While fans familiar with the source material might have expected a similar ending to the show and thus thought that Bianca would be winning over Jackal, were shocked to find that it was Bianca who had to take the bullet when she closed on Jackal hiding in Spain at his family home.
Together with Vince Pyne (Nick Blood), her trusted associate, Bianca finds out about Jackal’s personal address and after reaching there they find Nuria (Úrsula Corberó) leaving with her infant son in a taxi. Bianca thinks she must be escaping from the Jackal and thus lets her leave.
The Jackal reaches the house after a while with a sore wound and it seems that Vince and Bianca have some upper hand. However, things soon take an unexpected turn as Bianca gunning down Alvaro makes the Jackal aware of their presence.
Finally, in a cat-and-mouse game, the Jackal shoots both Bianca and Vince because who can know his house better than him? Bianca’s death comes as a huge shock as the show focused a lot on her and her family.
Also Read: The Day of the Jackal: Why does the lead want to go back to Nuria? Explained
Why does The Day of the Jackal end differently than the book?
Brian Kirk, The Day of the Jackal executive producer and lead director, talked to Variety about the changes made in the season finale. He said that though he was associated with the decision to kill Bianca’s character, it was mainly Ronan Bennett, the showrunner who finalized the ultimate twist.
When he was asked if he was worried about the changes he made to the storyline, Kirk said,
“I wasn’t worried to be honest. I was excited about it because I first watched the movie when I was a very young kid with my father, who was a great lover of movies. I’d never seen anything like it before. I instinctively knew it was a defining piece, a defining thriller, certainly in terms of his reaction. That’s not something I would have been anxious to repeat.”
While talking about the choice between either killing Bianca or the Jackal, he said,
“Obviously that’s the whole dramatic momentum of the story is that you’ve got these two people, you’re rooting for them both and one of them has to die. That’s what keeps you watching at a very basic level.”
With this hugely twisted finale and Jackal’s character being left alive unlike the books, The Day of the Jackal has already been renewed for a second season.
The Day of the Jackal can be streamed on Peacock.
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