I don’t know about you, but anytime I hear that Eddie Redmayne is set to star in a new project, I react the same way JD Vance does to an awkward donut shop encounter: with unparalleled enthusiasm. In other words, I’m all in, and in Redmayne’s latest pursuit, Peacock’s The Day of the Jackal, he’s all in, too.

The 10-episode series marks a unique deviation for the Oscar winner, who, for the better part of the last decade, has found his calling in major motion pictures that often see him swiftly nominated for every golden statue in sight. Given that his last major television role was in 2012’s Birdsong, his epic return to the medium begs a few important questions: why now, and why this role?

The answers come mere minutes into Jackal’s first episode, when an unrecognizable Redmayne dons the face, clothes, mannerisms, and gait of an elderly German janitor. As he goes to the real janitor’s workplace and shoots a man at point-blank range, it’s clear he’s not just playing dress-up ⏤ he’s an assassin, and someone has paid him a lot of money to carry out this particular hit.

What ensues is exactly what you’d expect from the sort of spy thriller that finds a hit man repelling down the side of a building to escape his pursuers: guns, disguises, car chases, and a cat-and-mouse chase across Europe between Redmayne’s unnamed hit man (later referred to as “the Jackal”) and MI6 agent Bianca, played by Lashana Lynch. This is not your grandfather’s Mission: Impossible, however. Redmayne’s Jackal might wear masks, but they aren’t ripped off in dramatic Tom Cruise fashion. On the contrary, his sharpshooter chips away at his prosthetics in an unhurried montage, peeling back the layers until, at last, we see the man beneath the killer. This unapologetic convention doesn’t only underline the unnerving reality The Day of the Jackal grounds itself in ⏤ it foreshadows how we’re going to learn more about our protagonist: layer by unpeeled layer.

Based on the novel by Frederick Forsyth and the 1973 film of the same name, Jackal pulls a hasty Big Brother in that it invites you to expect the unexpected. If anything is expected here, it’s Redmayne’s ability to churn out another compelling performance in the skin of a character we haven’t seen him play before. The chameleonic actor is at the height of his powers (when is he not?), sliding into the Jackal’s skin as seamlessly as a knife through flesh. It would have been be easy, in the hands of a lesser artist, for this elite sniper to be conventionally stoic and void of nuance, but in true Redmayne fashion, he capitalizes on the opportunity to offer unexpected glimpses of humanity in between taking out a growing list of targets.

And then we have Lynch’s Bianca, Jackal’s foil, and therefore someone we expect to be different from him in every way. This is where The Day of the Jackal reveals its first of many wild cards. Despite their opposing MOs, ⏤ she enforces the law that he unapologetically breaks ⏤ these wandering souls have tricks up their sleeves, and more in common than you’d think. Having previously played the new 007 in No Time To Die, Lynch knows her way around an MI6 operative, but like Redmayne, her Bianca boasts more than a few surprises. Unlike so many stony agents we’ve seen in shows and films past, her Bianca is refreshingly human, comprised of both imperfections and an unapologetic ferocity that moves in and out of sight as she juggles the roles of field agent, mother, and wife. Like the show itself, just when you think you know Bianca, she challenges you.

As Bianca pursues the Jackal across Europe in scenes so gorgeously filmed you can almost feel the Emmy nominations trickling in, the stakes rise in unexpected ways. Secrets are revealed, blood is spilled, and lines are drawn in the sand as the viewer s the characters in wondering who can be trusted here. With a strong ing cast and an especially good performance from Eleanor Matsuura as Zina, the storytelling stretches beyond Jackal and Bianca’s visual fete, leading to questions that could not possibly be answered in a single season (despite a rip-roaring length).

As if brilliant leads and stunning cinematography weren’t enough, Jackal takes further care to separate itself from similar products within the genre. It includes ingenious innovations and an impressive dedication to prioritizing the tactile over CGI, something this author deeply appreciates in a medium overrun by deteriorating superhero flicks and city-leveling critters. As you’d hope for in a project of this genre and scale, there are moments that take your breath away, even in their simplicity. If you’re a sucker for the sole Jessica Chastain tear streaming quietly down the cheek, you’re in luck. Moreover, if you’re looking to be shocked, entertained, and utterly immersed, The Day of the Jackal doesn’t just deliver ⏤ it leaves you wondering what just happened, why it happened, and whether or not you really know these characters at all. (Yes, you can expect to ruminate on that moment ⏤ you’ll know it when you see it ⏤ for at least a few weeks.)

If there’s any nitpicking to be done about Jackal, it lies distinctly in the slow burn of 10 episodes with a medium run time of nearly 52 minutes each. While this often leads to moments of great depth for the show’s players, it does occasionally result in the desire to skip ahead and find out how the story ends. Given the nature of the Jackal’s slow and meticulous work, I suspect this was intentional on the writers’ part. To be fair, one of the show’s more brilliant choices occurs when a plot point that could have been pushed to the denouement happens much sooner than expected. Still, and perhaps it’s my own pesky impatience, I wouldn’t have minded an ever-so-slightly tighter execution.

That said, Jackal goes out of its way to pull you in, deliver rapid-fire gut punches, and then allow you a few seconds in between to remind yourself to breathe. I selfishly wish we could have seen Redmayne don even more disguises, accents, and prosthetics given how many episodes he had to spread his scene-stealing wings, but this is yet another trick up Jackal’s sleeve. The showrunners know this is ultimately where Redmayne shines, especially in a character study about a shape-shifting marksman, and when the series earns its swift and well-deserved season 2 renewal, I have a hunch Redmayne will prove that we’ve only gotten a taste of what he and this heart-pounding thriller is really capable of.

Eddie Redmayne might best be known as the wand-waving magizoologist who perfected the art of the full-body crab, but that doesn’t mean he’s the only one capable of stealing a scene.

As one might expect, Peacock’s The Day of the Jackal does, in fact, feature Redmayne committing artistic theft. The modern-day adaptation of Frederick Forsyth’s novel (and the 1973 film of the same name) finds him playing the titular Jackal, a ruthless assassin being pursued by Lashana Lynch’s MI6 agent Bianca following a series of high-profile hits. Both actors churn out impressive, vulnerable performances alongside a stellar ing cast, but it’s the character hiding in plain sight ⏤ not unlike a master marksman ⏤ who gives them a run for their scene-stealing money.

That character is Jackal’s geography, and as Redmayne and Lynch pointed out during a recent press junket, this was no accident. “It was a long shoot,” Redmayne said when I asked how long it took to film a series of such a vast scope and scale. “Eight months,” Lynch confirmed, “out of Budapest in Hungary. But then Croatia…and a couple of weeks in London.” Lynch then went on to describe what it was like not solely working on sound stages for Jackal, but rather the world stage.

“When you get to play with locations, I think we both worked on sound stages and green screen and blue screen and those things bring – you really have to tap into imagination for those things. Here you have the beauty of your environment, and really utilizing that as a character in the piece. And it’s – that character is so important throughout these 10 episodes, you get to really live with each of these characters’ experience within those places. And it just really raises the sophistication and the scope of the show.”

Lynch’s green screen and sound stage experience includes, but is certainly not limited to, her work in Marvel’s Captain Marvel, in which she played fighter pilot Maria Rambeau (before surprising us with a few unexpected cameos in future MCU projects). Redmayne had similar imaginative responsibilities when he thrice played Newt Scamander in the Wizarding World’s Fantastic Beasts series. While locales in these kinds of universes (multiverses?) can be memorable, they often play second fiddle to CGI and epic battle sequences, putting them in more of a set-dressing role than a full-blown ing character.

The realistic nature of Jackal, on the other hand, required a much more grounded approach, including believable backdrops as Bianca pursues the Jackal across multiple European countries. If the plot sounds like something out of a fresh 007 entry — a character Lynch is no stranger to — rest assured: Jackal’s 10-episode arc is not all car chases and explosions. While there’s no shortage of thrilling elements and eye-popping surprises, the series is more of a slow, suspenseful burn than the typical two-hour spy thriller. The luxury of episodic storytelling also allowed both Lynch and Redmayne room to blossom in their characters’ complexities, something Jackal’s vast and breathtaking geography only amplified.

“You live in the beauty of it, and you live also in the darkness of some of these locations that weren’t originally dark,” Lynch explained. “But through the show, we’ve made them quite, like, eerie and like, sometimes not grotesque, but just a little gray. And I think color was something that we spoke about quite a lot, especially, you Eddie, when we were having our conversations as execs.” As Lynch pointed out, in addition to starring in Jackal, both she and Redmayne acted as producers, with Redmayne executive-producing and Lynch co-executive producing.

“It’s like, how do we bring the lightness and the darkness? How do we celebrate, you know, locations like Spain, or the architecture of some of these places, like Budapest has wonderful architecture and it was a character. I find that really, really helpful to balance the sound stages and location, because it just helps, it just brings out different parts of you as you’re characterizing.”

Despite playing a cold-blooded killer, Redmayne had positive thoughts to share regarding the bright side of such a rigorous shoot. “I just love that — that the fantasy of when you’re sitting in your living room and being taken to extraordinary places in the world, and that was something that was intrinsic to the original book and movie, was that escapism. And I’ve always also gone, ‘I want to be in White Lotus,’ I want to be in one of those shows where they get to travel to beautiful hotels. And we got it, yeah.”

They certainly did, and when this author noted how one prominent location featured throughout Jackal was particularly stunning, Redmayne and Lynch shared an amused reaction. “We’re not gonna deconstruct whether that is, whether [it] really looks like that, or whether it may be several cobbled together,” he teased. “I’m sure you can Airbnb it.” And, if you want to know which locale he’s referring to, head on over to Peacock, where you can now stream The Day of the Jackal’s first five episodes.

Eddie Redmayne and Captain Marvel star Lashana Lynch are winning rave reviews for their performances in Day of the Jackal, the new 10-episode Peacock series based on Frederick Forsyth’s novel and 1973 film of the same name.

Day of the Jackal: Watch now on Peacock

Redmayne plays Jackal, an assassin who is being hunted by Bianca, an M16 agent played by Lynch. In the original novel, Jackal is hired by a paramilitary group to kill French President Charles de Gaulle and is up against the work of detective Claude Lebel, who hopes to stop Jackal before he can carry out his plan. The 1973 movie has long been considered one of the best pieces of British cinema to date and was a faithful adaptation of the novel.

The newest installment in the franchise was adapted for more modern times – after all, for many outside of , Charles de Gaulle is the name of an airport in Paris. This time around Jackal’s target is a well-known philanthropist who has developed software that will share with the public how billionaires spend their money. Redmayne’s character is also hired for additional small jobs throughout the series.

“It was a long shoot,” Redmayne told We Got This Covered of the project when he was interviewed in October. Lynch added the shoot was “Eight months” and added that the pair were working “out of Budapest in Hungary. But then Croatia…and a couple of weeks in London.”

“When you get to play with locations, I think we both worked on sound stages and green screen and blue screen and those things bring – you really have to tap into imagination for those things,” Lynch said. “Here you have the beauty of your environment, and really utilizing that as a character in the piece. And it’s – that character is so important throughout these 10 episodes, you get to really live with each of these characters’ experience within those places. And it just really raises the sophistication and the scope of the show.”

The duo received high praise from film and TV critic Max Covill, who noted in his review that Lynch “is terrific here as she fights between what she believes to be righteous and the blood of her hands.”

Day of the Jackal is now available to stream on Peacock. The series premiered in the United States on Nov. 14. The series premiered worldwide on Nov. 7, 2024.

Warning: Spoilers for The Marvels to follow. 

The trouble with ensemble films is that there is largely not enough for everyone to do. The Avengers consistently did this by sidelining Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and giving Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) nonsensical romance plotlines.

Nia DaCosta’s The Marvels, however, has no such issue. The three female leads are equally as important as the next, with each character fulfilling their arc. Carol (Brie Larson) contends with being a secondary villain. Kamala (Iman Vellani) learns what happens when you meet your heroes. And Monica (Teyonah Parris) finally gets closure for her abandonment issues. When she was just a child, she had her favorite aunt promise her to be back before she knew it and never saw her again. Monica had to experience her mother’s illness all on her own and find her inner strength.

Carol itting fault with how she handled things is exactly what Monica needed to find closure, but that wasn’t the end of her story in The Marvels.

What is Monica’s fate when The Marvels end?

Since Monica’s exposure to Wanda’s (Elizabeth Olsen) aptly named witch hex, she has been adjusting to her new normal. Her photosensitive powers allow her to phase through materials and produce light of her own. This change has bonded her with Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) as he runs S.A.B.E.R. But as often occurs in the MCU, with great power comes great responsibility.

Monica learns this quicker than most after she and The Marvels battle Kree leader, Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton). In the Kree’s attempt to fix the environmental issues on her home planet Hala, she rips a hole in time and space. This portal travels into another dimension and another instance of the Multiverse, which has captivated the MCU as of late.

Monica is the only person who can absorb Carol and Kamala’s energy to sew the rift back together. Carol and Kamala agree, not understanding that this is the end of the line for Monica, at least Earth-616. As she mends the rift with her abilities, the entry point closes around her, and she its that she always knew this would be a one-way trip. Carol races to save her, but as Monica seals the portal, it disappears — taking her along with it.

As devastated as the characters are at losing an integral part of their team, this doesn’t necessarily mean she’s gone for good (one of the rare, logically backed parts of the film). Both Carol and Kamala are certain they will see their friend again, and for good reason. Different universes have already been established in the MCU, and being absorbed into one isn’t automatically a death sentence.

Sealing the rift takes its toll on Monica and she loses consciousness. When she wakes up, she finds herself in a ward, with someone at her side who looks exactly like her mother. But when Maria (Lashana Lynch) takes off her sheath and reveals she is instead the superhero Binary, Monica realizes she is in an alternate world. This reveal is just another connection to the future of the MCU and an intriguing hint at the future of the X-Men. But it also means that this is not the last we see of Captain Rambeau (or Pulsar, or Photon, or Professor Marvel — hopefully she will have picked a superhero name by the time she appears next in the MCU).

This article contains major spoilers for The Marvels.

A lot happens in the short runtime of The Marvels, but as has become a trend among the Marvel faithful, the post-credit scene is all anyone wants to discuss.

That said, this one in particular feels like the most game-changing teaser in years regarding its implications for the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe at large.

What is the post-credit scene in The Marvels about?

After being sent through time and space into a new reality, thanks to Dar-Benn’s catastrophic attempt to force jump points into the galaxy tissue, Monica wakes up in a strange hospital with an all too familiar face resting next to her. The heroine recognizes the other woman as her mother Maria, who had ed away from cancer in her universe. However, whoever this new Maria is, she doesn’t know or has never seen Monica before and is confused by the S.A.B.E.R. captain’s deeply emotional response.

Enter Kelsey Grammer’s Beast, who fans will know from Fox’s original X-Men movies. He poses his (correct) theory about what might have happened to her, despite having difficulty believing it could be possible. When Maria s him by standing up, her costume is revealed, and her identity is finally confirmed. She is Binary.

Who is Binary in Marvel Comics?

Marvel often takes creative liberties when adapting characters from comics to screen and Maria Rambeau possibly being Binary is a prime example as this is a famous Carol Danvers alias (and later her duplicate) in the comics.

Binary’s origins date back to 1982’s Uncanny X-Men #163. While attending a celebratory banquet in honor of the X-Men, Carol was kidnapped by a parasitic alien race known as the Brood, who experimented on her and brought out her dormant cosmic powers. The X-Men eventually helped her escape and she later realized the full extent of her new, almost limitless capabilities. These draw from the very fabric of the universe to produce powerful beams of light, heat, and radiation. She decided to name her new self Binary.

Her connection to the white hole that gave her these extraordinary powers was eventually broken by Jean Grey in order to save the universe, which caused her to lose her Binary powers unless triggered by an exterior force.

In more recent adventures, specifically from 2021 to 2023, in Captain Marvel Vol. 10 #34-48, Binary was the name of a Carol Danvers duplicate created by the heroine herself to evade capture. She took inspiration from Monica’s powers, manifesting her powerful cosmic energy into matter. This Captain Marvel duplicate was eventually killed in battle against the Brood Empress.

Carol and Maria’s relationship is significant to the MCU and this surprising connection will only deepen their history. We can’t wait to see what this new direction means for Monica, Carol, and the rest of the superhero universe.

There’s a lot riding on The Marvels. Perhaps more than Marvel Studios can handle. 

By the time the movie premieres, the Marvel Cinematic Universe will be officially halfway through its Multiverse Saga. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will have premiered, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania naysayers will have had time to refill their half-empty cups, and Phase Five will once more get the chance to right the wrongs of its underwhelming predecessor – Phase Four. 

As of late, every new MCU installment has felt as if it carries the weight of the franchise on its shoulders. That, unfortunately, has been born of one disappointing release after the last; releases such as Eternals, Doctor Stange in the Multiverse of Madness, Thor: Love and Thunder, and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, two of which scored the MCU its first-ever rotten ratings on Rotten Tomatoes.

The Marvels will not be an exception. The movie must now contend with being the franchise’s end-of-year closer after the studio announced it will premiere the film on Nov. 10 instead of its initial July 28 release date. In doing so, The Marvels will the ranks of past heavy hitters such as Thor: Ragnarok, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. 

In other words, The Marvels just went from a fun summer bash to the barometer by which Marvel dictates its future. Following Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, the conversation about the franchise’s state of decline has been louder than ever. Scott Lang’s underwhelming threequel left diehard fans questioning just how long the MCU can stay alive or if it is petering out right before our eyes. 

Should The Marvels deliver anything less than outstanding, the trust between Marvel fans and the MCU will take yet another hit. Just how many it can withstand is the real question. Good thing Kevin Feige is taking a step back to reconsider the MCU’s state of affairs. Perhaps now it will begin to follow through on the all-important methodology of quality over quantity.

The Marvels will premiere in theaters on Nov. 11. 

Actress Lashana Lynch is on one hell of a hot streak. The actress, who burst on the scene in 2012’s Fast Girls, has appeared in No Time to Die, Captain Marvel, and The Woman King all in the past few years.

In Captain Marvel, she played Maria Rambeau, a woman that Marvel killed off (something we found out about in WandaVision).

“Kevin Feige had messaged me, letting me know about Maria’s demise. [Characters] spoke of it in WandaVision, which I’m glad that they did because at least that’s good context,” she said in an interview with Empire.

However, they brought her back for Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness, and they didn’t just bring back her character, they brought her back as alternate universe Captain Marvel. Lynch revealed that she had zero idea that she would be back at Marvel. “It was a wild one,” she said.

“One of the producers of Captain Marvel called me and said they had this idea to bring all these new versions of characters back together and they wanted to bring Maria back. “I was like, ‘Great, okay, she’s gonna be an ancestor.’ ‘No, she’s gonna be Captain Marvel.’ It blew my mind.”

She said it didn’t even sink in when she met the other alternate universe characters.

“Hayley [Atwell], Benedict [Cumberbatch], Chiwetel [Ejiofor], a group of us were on Zoom just staring at each other going, ‘What is happening?!’ I embraced Maria as a ‘super-mum’, having a chance to flex in this very new but already existent way. It felt like it was meant to be for her.”

Turns out that death is not always the end in the Marvel universe, and Lynch said she mentioned that to Feige.

“Listen, I’ve already mentioned to Kevin about ancestors. I was like, ‘You know in Black Panther when the dad is a panther in the tree? Maybe Maria could be by a tree somewhere!’”

Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness is currently streaming on Disney Plus.

Academy Award-winning actress Viola Davis’ latest film The Woman King is making a splash among critics and audiences alike since premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival last week. Now, with barely a day showing in theaters, the hype surrounding it is at an all-time high.

Sitting at a whopping 99 percent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes with hundreds of verified ratings, it seems like The Woman King has escaped the plague of review-bombing that has affected movies about female empowerment in recent times. It has also scored a 93 percent on the Tomatometer based on 90 reviews by critics so far. Not too shabby.

Directed by Love & Basketball and The Old Guard‘s Gina Maria Prince-Bythewood, and penned by City of Angels and Fatherhood‘s Dana Stevens, this historical epic tells the story of the all-female tribe of Agojie, who protected the West African kingdom of Dahomey during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries.

Across the board, those who have seen the film praise Viola Davis’ performance, as well as the movie’s dynamic action sequences and emotional pull from its ensemble of female characters. Los Angeles Times‘ Justin Chang argues that The Woman King “rises to the challenge of using an old-fashioned template to deliver a floodtide of exhilarating new images.” Manohla Dargis, For the New York Times, agrees, saying the movie is “a sweeping entertainment,” but also “a story of unwavering resistance in front of and behind the camera.”

The movie has received criticism however for apparent historical inaccuracies when it comes to Dahomey, the kingdom the female tribe at its center is sworn to protect. According to critics, who cite history, Dahomey was involved in trading slaves for goods to white colonizers, arguing that its reign should not be glorified in a Hollywood film.

Starring alongside Davis, the stellar cast of The Woman King also features No Time To Die‘s Lashana Lynch, Star Wars‘ John Boyega, The Underground Railroad‘s Thuso Mbedu and Sheila Atim, as well as the After series’ Hero Fiennes Tiffin.

The Woman King is currently playing in theaters.

The original best friend to Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel wasn’t always going to be Lashanna Lynch, but rather DeWanda Wise.

Replaced during the casting process, the original Monica Rambeau has spoken about the change, and why exactly she didn’t end up with the role in the multibillion dollar franchise. Lynch ended up with the role, and recently appeared as a Captain Marvel variant in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. But what led to Wise losing the role?

Speaking to Gizmodo to promote Jurassic World: Dominion, she explained what happened, and the complicated legalities of the decision to leave the role. Wise stressed that she did not want to miss out on the role, and how her Netflix contract impacted her hopes of playing Monica.

“Well, I always correct people. I did not choose to leave. Like, I would never make that choice for myself, that sounds ridiculous. You know, you sign a contract for a TV show and it’s in first position, and that’s just a responsible…you have audience who are like ‘I would’ve taken a lawsuit.’ Good for you. I don’t wanna be sued! Not trying to be sued by Spike Lee and Netflix. So, you know, at the time it was very disappointing, and also difficult in that context, you know.”

It’s all a very familiar story, with many actors typically choosing against g multi-picture, multi-year deals out of fear of complications with g up with other projects. Marvel Studios has typically offered multi-picture deals to actors, and while the pay is good, it’s understandable why it can be such a daunting prospect.

Brie Larson signed up for several films, beginning with 2019’s Captain Marvel. She’s set to return to the role in 2023’s The Marvels, with the Academy Award winning actress rumored to appear in Ms. Marvel.

After picking up the mantle of 007 in her own peculiar way through No Time to Die, British actress Lashana Lynch has expressed interest in reprising her role as MI6 agent Nomi for any future Bond entries.

Lynch won the Rising Star award at the 2022 BAFTAs last night, and got a chance to talk about her part in the last Daniel Craig-led Bond film. When asked if she’d consider returning, here’s what the Captain Marvel star said in response.

“I would. I don’t know if it’s happening, by the way. I’ve had a really good time working with [producers] Barbara [Broccoli] and Michael [G Wilson] and the whole team there. It’s such a collaborative family.”

While Nomi ittedly made a few mistakes due to her unconventional methods after taking over from Bond, the character managed to redeem herself by fighting shoulder to shoulder with Her Majesty’s secret agent during the assault on Lyutsifer Safin’s (Rami Malek) compound in the movie’s third act.

In fact, if the producers were to bring back the old team, including Ben Whishaw as Q and Ralph Fiennes as M, then we could definitely see Nomi making a comeback as well. Though since Craig’s Bond has bowed out in that particular timeline, their return for future flicks wouldn’t make much sense, unless there’s another MI6 agent coincidentally by the name of James Bond.

Besides, it’s becoming increasingly clear that the powers that be are looking to reinvent the franchise after Craig, so the introduction of a completely new cast is definitely in order.