“Slow Horses” is Apple TV+’s Clydesdale. The streaming service has given the Gary Oldman-led spy drama an early Season 6 renewal, which means the reliable workhorse of a show is likely to become Apple TV+’s first series to run for more than five seasons. The announcement comes just after the conclusion of Season 4 on October 9. Apple announced the Season 5 pickup back in January.
Technically, “For All Mankind,” one of Apple TV+’s launch titles in 2019, has been running for longer than “Slow Horses,” which premiered in 2022. Both shows have released four seasons, and “For All Mankind’s” fifth (and a spinoff) is in the works. But “Slow Horses” is an anomaly in the streaming industry because it moves really fast. Previous seasons of “Slow Horses” have shot back-to-back, which reduces the amount of time the show takes between seasons. Two six-episode seasons were released in 2022, and the show took less than a year between Seasons 2, 3, and 4. That also seems likely to be the case for Seasons 5 and 6.
According to showrunner Will Smith, filming on Season 5 is wrapping up, and the fact that Apple TV+ has already announced a writer (co-executive producer Gaby Chiappe), a director (Adam Randall), and a logline for the following season (“Season 6 sees the Slow Horses on the run as Diana Taverner embroils them all in a fatally high-stakes game of retaliation and revenge”) indicates that filming on Season 6 is imminent. Bet on seeing Season 5 in 2025 and Season 6 in 2026.
“Slow Horses” is a darkly funny British spy thriller based on a series of bestselling novels by Mick Herron. It follows the misadventures and occasional triumphs of a team of MI5 agents whose career failures have led to them ending up at the purgatorial Slough House under the leadership of the cantankerous and slovenly but brilliant Jackson Lamb (Oldman). The cast also includes Academy Award nominee Kristin Scott Thomas, Emmy Award nominee Jack Lowden, Saskia Reeves, Rosalind Eleazar, Christopher Chung, BAFTA Award nominee Samuel West, Aimee-Ffion Edwards, Ruth Bradley, Tom Brooke, Joanna Scanlan, and Academy Award nominee Jonathan Pryce.
“Slow Horses” broke through at the Emmys this year for its third season, earning nine nominations, including Best Drama Series and acting nominations for Oldman, Lowden, and Pryce. It won one, for Best Drama Writing (Will Smith).
