Apple’s ‘Slow Horses’ Will Ride on for Three More Seasons
Credit: Apple
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Over the past couple of years, Apple TV+ seems to have hit its stride. Apple’s original constant has always been more about quality than quantity, and while many of its early shows were very good in their own right, few became the kind of breakout hits that qualified as must-see TV.
However, the last year has brought us the second seasons of Severance and Silo that have both been highly acclaimed and generated tons of buzz, plus new releases like The Studio, Murderbot, Stick, and Dope Thief that are racking up high scores on Rotten Tomatoes and plenty of fan buzz.
Then there’s Slow Horses, a series that began as a sleeper hit but has turned into a critically acclaimed slow-burn success. While it hasn’t exploded into the mainstream like Ted Lasso, it’s attracted a loyal and steadily growing fanbase since 2022.
In the first season, veteran actor Gary Oldman introduced us to his alter ego, the delightfully distasteful ex-spymaster, Jackson Lamb, in what felt like a mashup between Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and The Office. Lamb heads up Slough House, a station for MI5 agents who have fallen out of favor with the powers-that-be at Regent’s Park.
Slow Horses has managed to rack up four action-packed seasons already, partly helped by the fact that each plays more like a TV mini-series, with only six episodes that dovetail together so that one could binge a whole season as if it were a six-hour movie.
Season 1 was quickly followed by a second season later that same year, making it the only Apple TV+ show to double up this way. That’s partly because the production team filmed both seasons back to back, but it didn’t slow down after that. Season 3 debuted a year later, followed by Season 4 only 10 months after that.
This makes it probably the most consistent drama series on Apple TV+. While Severance left us waiting three years between the first two seasons, Slow Horses has defied its name by continuing to crank out new seasons annually, and it doesn’t look like that’s about to stop.
The first four seasons have been extremely well-received by fans and critics alike. Season 1 debuted to a “Certified Fresh” rating of 95 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 60 reviews. It followed that up with a perfect 100 percent for season 2. The third season dipped only slightly to 98 percent, but the show regained its footing with another 100 percent for season 4, making it the number one series of 2024 on Rotten Tomatoes.
Needless to say, Apple isn’t about to let this one go anytime soon. However, in an unprecedented move, Apple announced this week that it’s already ordered a seventh season before Season 5 even debuts.
“Slow Horses has won fans all over the world with its unique mix of self-deprecating British humor and high-octane action. I’m delighted viewers will have another season to enjoy Gary’s magnificent performance as Jackson Lamb alongside the Slow Horses’ slightly inept spycraft,” said Jay Hunt, creative director, Europe, Apple TV+.
Season 5 is scheduled to premiere on September 24, 2025, with the usual six-episode arc. Last year, just after the season 4 finale aired, Apple announced that the series would get a sixth season, which is when it typically announces renewals.
It’s not the first time Apple has picked up a multi-season deal for a show. Its debut flagship, The Morning Show, was signed for two seasons in 2017, two years before Apple TV+ even launched. Mythic Quest also got a double-renewal for seasons 3 and 4 in October 2021. However, Slow Horses has gone a big step further, which represents a massive vote of confidence in the series.
This also isn’t a nebulous renewal. Apple has already shared a very brief teaser on what we can expect from season 7 when it airs, likely two years from now:
In season seven, Lamb and his Slow Horses are on the hunt to find and neutralize a mole at the heart of British Government before they can bring down the state.
It’s not too much of a stretch to find content for each new season. Slow Horses is pretty faithfully adapted from a series of novels, Slough House, by Mick Herron. The first season, and the series as a whole, gets its plot and title from book one in the series. The second season continues with the plot from book 2, Dead Lions, followed by Real Tigers for season 3, Spook Street for season 4, and London Rules for season 5.
The catch is that the Apple TV+ series may also be moving faster than the books. In an odd twist, season 6 is expected to adapt books 6 and 7, Joe Country and Slough House, into a single six-episode arc. This week’s announcement notes that the newly confirmed season 7 will be based on book 8, Bad Actors. Once that’s done, there’s only one left, Clown Town, which isn’t coming out until this September.
On the other hand, if Apple continues its annual pace for new seasons, season 8 won’t arrive before 2028, which gives Herron plenty of time to write a tenth book, considering the first eight books came out at a near-annual pace.
There’s also The Secret Hours, the standalone prequel that Herron penned right after finishing Bad Actors in 2022. However, this one would be trickier for Apple to adapt as it doesn’t center around Jackson Lamb the way the rest of the books do, and would likely need to rely on younger actors to portray the members of the old guard, such as Diana Taverner, who is masterfully portrayed by Kristin Scott Thomas in the series. That’s certainly a project I’d be eager to see Apple tackle, but it would probably be better suited to an anthology spin-off rather than a new season, unless it chose to go with a very flashback-heavy adaptation.
Slow Horses Season 5 will arrive on September 24, 2025, and will follow Jackson Lamb’s team of misfits as they try to unravel who’s behind a chaotic series of attacks on the UK. There’s no word on when future seasons will arrive, but if Apple follows the current trend, it’s a safe bet that we’ll see Season 6 debut in September 2026, followed by Season 7 in the fall of 2027.
