Catherine Zeta-Jones’s Kill Jackie: why the assassin story heads to Swansea

Catherine Zeta-Jones’s eight-part thriller Kill Jackie launches on Prime Video in the UK and Ireland on October 2, 2026. In an interview published the same day, creator and executive producer Peter Lawson explains how she helped turn its story of a woman pursued by assassins into a homecoming to Swansea.

The Swansea episode was Zeta-Jones’s idea, Lawson told The AU Review’s Peter Gray. Recalling her response to the book and original pilot, he quoted her saying: ‘I don’t get a lot of this kind of stuff. I love this. It allows me to be a bit more free.’

Following NewsJaws’ earlier report on Zeta-Jones’s Welsh roots in Kill Jackie, Lawson’s new interview adds how that connection shaped a specific episode, the adaptation’s structure and its family story. Separately, an October 2 Guardian review delivers a sharply critical assessment of the finished thriller.

What is Kill Jackie about?

The series adapts The Price You Pay, written by Nick Harkaway under the name Aidan Truhen. Its central character was a man in the novel. On television, Zeta-Jones plays Jackie Price, a former international drug smuggler whose public identity now belongs to the art world.

Lawson says the adaptation also changes when viewers encounter her criminal life. He described the book as a present-day gangster story; the series introduces Jackie in a different existence and gradually reveals her past. That lets the audience discover what lies behind her respectable appearance.

In Lawson’s interpretation, Jackie’s comfortable life has left her bored. Renewed danger gives her back some of the energy she misses. He and showrunner Tom Butterworth wanted her history and relationships to add layers to that contradiction, including the misfits who become a surrogate family.

How Catherine Zeta-Jones shaped the Swansea episode

Lawson told The AU Review that the team wanted more than assassin encounters to sustain eight hours of television. Family, identity and belonging became part of the adaptation’s emotional foundation, with Zeta-Jones’s proposed return to Swansea developing into episode five.

He described it as a more contained chapter that uncovers Jackie’s history and family connections. The production filmed in Wales for a few days, he said, and returning mattered to Zeta-Jones because she grew up in Swansea. Lawson intended the episode to shift the story’s emotional direction.

Her Welsh accent was another early decision. Lawson said she immediately agreed to use it, and he believed that gave her more freedom in the performance. His account places her own voice and connection to Wales within the development of the character.

Changing the protagonist from a man to a woman was also deliberate. Lawson said he had already made action films with male leads and felt that territory was well represented. Zeta-Jones’s humour and ability to bring emotional depth were central to the appeal of casting her.

Why Kill Jackie combines art dealing and action

The setting changed during development, too. Lawson said the production moved to Spain after another location did not work out, prompting revisions. Bilbao and its art world helped the team construct Jackie’s polished public identity while preserving the criminal history beneath it.

For the action, Lawson singled out a pursuit up steps in Bilbao that develops into a parkour chase. Television budget constraints meant choosing those sequences carefully, he said. The intention was for the set pieces to move the story forward as well as provide spectacle.

What the creator and Guardian critic said

Lawson cited the Coen brothers as a reference for combining violence and absurd comedy. He said the team repeatedly adjusted that balance in scripts, filming and editing, pulling some moments back and adding humour elsewhere according to what a scene needed.

Asked about comparisons with Killing Eve and the Coen brothers, Lawson said: ‘Look, the references are for when you’re selling it, right?’ He hoped Zeta-Jones’s character, performance and the show’s tone would give the series an identity of its own.

The Guardian’s Lucy Mangan was unconvinced by the result. Her October 2 review criticised the plotting and characterisation, describing the series as ‘preposterous nonsense’. Its headline compared the thriller to Killing Eve ‘minus good characters or plot’.

Lawson’s interview was conducted ahead of the premiere and describes the production’s intentions. Mangan’s review assesses the finished programme. They provide a creator’s account and one critic’s verdict; the review does not establish a wider audience response.

Where to watch Kill Jackie

Amazon scheduled all eight episodes to arrive together on Prime Video in the UK and Ireland on October 2. Its release guide sets out that territory-specific arrangement. The series’ release platforms and episode schedules differ elsewhere.

AMC’s August announcement scheduled an October 2 AMC+ premiere followed by weekly episodes. Stan announced an October 2 premiere in Australia, a date also listed in The AU Review’s launch-day interview. Those regional arrangements should guide viewers looking for the series.