*Warning: contains spoilers for Slow Horses seasons 1-5*
The most reliable show on TV is about to return, with Slow Horses coming back to Apple TV for its sixth season.
The new run of the show will follow up on the explosive finale to season 5, which saw Diana Taverner finally get what she had always wanted and become First Desk.
Season 6 will be the first to adapt two of Mick Herron’s books at once, merging the plots of Joe Country and Slough House. Following that, we already know that a seventh season based on Bad Actors is on the way, after which there is still one of Herron’s mainline novels to adapt, Clown Town.
Beyond that, it doesn’t seem like Herron will be slowing down on writing them any time soon – so who knows how long the show could run for.
In the meantime, we’ve got season 6 to enjoy, which we now know will feature the long-awaited return of a major character from season 1.
But what else do we know so far about the new episodes and when will they start airing on Apple TV?
Read on for everything you need to know about Slow Horses season 6.
Will there be a Slow Horses season 6?
There will! In fact, season 6 was officially confirmed a long time ago, in October 2024, and a seventh season has also now been announced.
When the season 6 renewal was first confirmed, Jay Hunt, creative director for Apple TV+ in Europe, said in a statement: “Audiences around the world have fallen in love with the Slow Horses, and I’m delighted that Gary Oldman will be leading this star-studded cast on another acerbic and action-packed adventure.”
One big change for this season will be the lack of involvement of Will Smith.
Smith, who acted as showrunner from the first season through to season 5, stepped down at the end of the most recent run.
He told Deadline earlier this year: “Series 5, it doesn’t end things by any means, but it concludes certain story arcs that started in season 1, so it felt like a good moment to hand over the show.”
He explained his reasons for leaving the series, saying: “There’s two things. One, there’s the risk that you’ll start to run dry or repeat, which you have to watch. And so, it’s just getting ahead of that, and knowing when the right time is for you to give it over to somebody who can give it some new energy and freshness.
“And then it’s likely that the schedule of it just becomes something that can be slightly daunting after a while. It feels like I might not be giving you my best work if I continue at this pace…
“I do want to emphasise, it’s not in any way that I thought I’m now too good for Slow Horses. It’s much more that I want to keep being good enough for Slow Horses.
“And I would never want it to be like, ‘Oh, that one wasn’t quite there.’ It’s just that risk of just pushing it too far. And I just felt, I just want to go when I know I’m still delivering my very, very best for all the people that work on the show.”
With Smith no longer involved, season 6 has been adapted by co-executive producer Gaby Chiappe. Meanwhile, the season has been directed by Adam Randall, having previously helmed season 4.
When will Slow Horses season 6 be released?
Season will officially start releasing on Apple TV from Wednesday 16 September, with new episodes dropping weekly until 21 October.
This means the season is starting almost exactly a year after season 5 debuted.
What is Slow Horses season 6 about?
The official synopsis for season 6 says it “sees the Slow Horses on the run as Diana Taverner embroils them all in a fatally high-stakes game of retaliation and revenge”.
This certainly makes sense given where season 5 left off, with the show ending on the moment in which Taverner finally took her place as First Desk.
Roddy Ho star Christopher Chung told RadioTimes.com exclusively about how this would factor into season 6: “Going into the next season with Taverner in first desk, you’ve kind of got her in a position now where she’s got everything that she’s wanted, everything that she’s plotted and schemed for.
“So it’ll be interesting to see if absolute power corrupts. So I think that’s a really good cliffhanger for the audience to see now that she’s got her hands on the steering wheel where’s she gonna steer it?”
Beyond this, we know that the season will see the return of Frank Harkness, and that it will see a file with the Slow Horses’ names in it being stolen, leading to the team being hunted.
Of course, we can also look to Mick Herron’s novels for guidance – however, this time that may be more tricky than usual.
That’s because, for the first time ever, the new season will adapt two of Herron’s novels rather than one, with the plots being mashed up and changed more than ever in the adaptation process.
Still, the blurb for the first of the novels being adapted, Joe Country, says: “In Slough House, the backwater for failed spies, memories are stirring, all of them bad.
“Catherine Standish is buying booze again, Louisa Guy is raking over the ashes of lost love, and new recruit Lech Wicinski, whose sins make him outcast even among the slow horses, is determined to discover who destroyed his career, even if he tears his life apart in the process.
“With winter taking its grip Jackson Lamb would sooner be left brooding in peace, but even he can’t ignore the dried blood on his carpets. So when the man responsible for killing a slow horse breaks cover at last, Lamb sends his crew out to even the score. This time, they’re heading into joe country. And they’re not all coming home.”
Meanwhile, the blurb for the second novel being adapted, Slough House, says: “Slough House – the crumbling office building to which failed spies, the ‘slow horses’, are banished – has been wiped from secret service records. Reeling from recent losses in their ranks, the slow horses are worried they’ve been pushed further into the cold, and fatal accidents keep happening.
“With a new populist movement taking a grip on London’s streets, the aftermath of a blunder by the Russian secret service that left a British citizen dead, and the old order ensuring that everything’s for sale to the highest bidder, the world’s an uncomfortable place for those deemed surplus to requirements.
“The wise move would be to find a safe place and wait for the troubles to pass. But the slow horses aren’t famed for making wise decisions.”
Who stars in Slow Horses season 6?
The majority of the central Slow Horses cast will be back for season 6, including Gary Oldman, Jack Lowden and Kristin Scott Thomas.
In the trailer for season 6, which aired at the end of the season 5 finale, we also saw that Hugo Weaving is returning as Frank Harkness, while a number of new guest stars were revealed.
These include Lenny Rush, MyAnna Buring, Harry Lloyd, Kyle Soller and Lucian Msamati, all playing major new characters.
Rosalind Eleazar will also be back as her character Louisa Guy, who left Slough House at the beginning of season 5, a move that departed from Mick Herron’s novels.
In even bigger news, Olivia Cooke will also be back as Sidonie Baker, who was previously reported dead after she was shot in the head in season 1 episode 2. There was always a hint of doubt around her state, but we now know she survived and will be back for the new season.
Here is the confirmed cast for Slow Horses season 6:
- Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb
- Jack Lowden as River Cartwright
- Kristin Scott Thomas as Diana Taverner
- Saskia Reeves as Catherine Standish
- Christopher Chung as Roddy Ho
- Aimee-Ffion Edwards as Shirley Dander
- Rosalind Eleazar as Louisa Guy
- Joanna Scanlan as Moira Tregorian
- Samuel West as Peter Judd
- Ruth Bradley as Emma Flyte
- Tom Brooke as JK Coe
- Jonathan Pryce as David Cartwright
- Hugo Weaving as Frank Harkness
- Olivia Cooke as Sidonie Baker
- Paul Higgins as Struan Loy
- Naomi Wirthner as Molly Doran
- Lenny Rush as Reece Nesmith
- Kyle Soller as Jim
- MyAnna Buring as Jane
- Harry Lloyd as Damien Cantor
- Lucian Msamati as Oliver Nash
Is there a trailer for Slow Horses season 6?
There is! An initial trailer for Slow Horses season 6 played at the end of the season 5 finale, but as has been the case with previous seasons, it wasn’t made available online.
Another online trailer has now been released, which you can watch here.
Slow Horses is available to stream on Apple TV. Season 6 will be released from 16 September. Start your seven-day free Apple TV trial.
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