The espionage-fueled streaming rush will not stop, and Apple TV+’s Slow Horses is easily Top Three material if we’re measuring by audience devotion. Can we even plop the Gary Oldman-starring show into the top spot? Sure, why not. The Diplomat and The Night Agent rule over at Netflix, but Slow Horses has managed to be more prolific than these competitors and streaming shows in general in only a few short years. The show debuted in 2022, and the fifth season’s filming is done and dusted.
So, Apple TV+ might be winning the streaming sci-fi game at present, but their participation in the spy game is well-aimed and impeccably executed. Likewise, there’s no disputing that Gary Oldman — who has portrayed every manner of unsettling villain in a stunningly lengthy Hollywood career — has achieved his finest (and funniest) role with a British series that cloaks his spymaster prowess in a cloud of farts. It’s lethal in more ways than one, man, so let’s get down to gassy business on what the fifth season will bring.
Plot
With over a dozen Slough House books and novellas from Mick Herron in existence, this series will not run short on inspiration for many years. Before we get to the serious-ish stuff, showrunner Will Smith revealed an impending matter of importance for Jackson Lamb (Oldman) that will involve him having a cake overdose. Really. According to Smith (speaking with Collider), he will experience “a sugar rush” after “too much cake” (is that possible?), and this could lead him to take up vegetables in a future season.
The horror.
And because it’s fun to watch Oldman discuss his love of this role, it’s worth watching the below Extra video (from the Globes red carpet) that reveals the leading man basking in happiness with Jack Lowden and fourth-season director Adam Randall. In this clip, Oldman reveals that the sixth season was headed into filming within days, and never fear, Jackson Lamb is not changing his ways, including in the upcoming firth season: “Well, he’s in a way your mainstay, but… the dye is set with the lad… I’m not gonna open the script and read some crazy character arc… he’s a constant.”
Additionally, Oldman suggested some “slight” reveals about Lamb’s past. Fingers crossed that these will include Cold War revelations:
For plot details, the fifth season will bumble into Mick Herron’s London Rules novel. This will follow a fourth season finale, which has apparently led River Cartwright’s (Jack Lowden) allegiance to become clear. He had received a mercenary job offer from his father, Frank Harkness (Hugo Weaving), but River seems to be sticking with the Slough Horses, from the looks of him at the pub with Jackson. In the London Rules book, River will be busy protecting a politician amid more terror attacks, and Penguin Random House’s London Rules description points towards more Slough House chaos ahead:
At MI5 headquarters Regent’s Park, First Desk Claude Whelan is learning the ropes the hard way…. Meanwhile, the country’s being rocked by an apparently random string of terror attacks.
Over at Slough House, the MI5 satellite office for outcast and demoted spies, the agents are struggling with personal problems: repressed grief, various addictions, retail paralysis, and the nagging suspicion that their newest colleague is a psychopath. Plus someone is trying to kill Roddy Ho. But collectively, they’re about to rediscover their greatest strength—that of making a bad situation much, much worse.
As noted already, the sixth season is already rolling cameras and adapting both the Joe Country and Slough House books by Herron.
Release Date
Although Apple TV+ hasn’t publicized a release date, 2025 is guaranteed. Additionally, it’s worth noting that this show has always returned in less than a year (in April 2022, December 2022, November 2023, and September 2024 for the first four seasons), so by this pattern, we can expect the fifth season no later than August 2025.
Cast
Gary Oldman is having the time of his career as Jackson Lamb and will stay in the role (via Indiewire) as long as “Apple keeps us on the air.” Jack Lowden is also going nowhere as River Cartwright, and the next season will bring more of Kristin Scott Thomas as Diana Taverner, Christopher Chung as Roddy Ho, Rosalind Eleazar as Louisa Guy, and James Callis as Claude Whelan.
Trailer
Apple TV+ hasn’t released a trailer, but it’s worth reliving this warning of what happens upon mentioning the word “shower” to Jackson Lamb.
