You Can Now Tour the London of ‘Slow Horses’ in Apple Maps

This week, Apple kicked off the fifth season of its highly acclaimed spy drama, Slow Horses, and in a whimsical twist, it’s also snuck a fun little tour into Apple Maps for fans to enjoy.

The show-inspired tour is part of the Guides feature that Apple added to Apple Maps in iOS 14, and while these are typically used for helping people find real-world gems like restaurants, this one is made up entirely of fictional places found in the world of Slow Horses.

Titled See London the Slow Horses Way, it can be found by selecting Guides in Apple Maps on the iPhone, iPad, or Mac, and then searching for “Slow Horses.” While the actual venues in the guide are entirely fictional, they were all filmed in real-world locations, letting both physical and virtual travellers visit spots like Slough House, Regent’s Canal Bench, Blake’s Grave, and more.

There are currently 10 locations in total, some of which are based on the events in season 4, which means you may not want to scroll all the way through them if you haven’t finished watching the last season yet, as there are some mild spoilers here.

London comes to life in the hit Apple Original spy drama Slow Horses, which shoots in both well-known and under-the-radar locations across the city. Find out more about some of the real-life landmarks and top-secret spots from the Emmy-winning show.

The Slow Horses Guide can be saved to your own list of Guides and shared like any other real-world guide. Each of the ten locations includes a photo from the series and a brief description of its significance to the plot, the show’s history, and the books that inspired it. There’s even a link to Apple Books for those who want to explore Mick Herron’s original novels.

Each season of Slow Horses is based on one of the novels in the now ten-book series. In the first season, the always-delightful Gary Oldman introduced us to his alter ego, a curmudgeonly ex-spymaster, Jackson Lamb, who heads up Slough House, a station for MI5 agents who, for various reasons, have fallen out of favor with the establishment.

Season 1 was followed by a second season later that same year, making it the only Apple TV+ show to date to have a double-season release within the same year. The production team filmed both of the first two seasons back-to-back, but it didn’t slow down: Season 3 debuted a year later, followed by Season 4 only 10 months after that.

Season 5, which came out this week, follows the plot of Book 5, London Rules:

In season five of “Slow Horses,” everyone is suspicious when resident tech nerd Roddy Ho has a glamorous new girlfriend, but when a series of increasingly bizarre events occur across the city, it falls to the Slow Horses to work out how everything is connected. After all, Lamb knows that in the world of espionage, the London Rules — cover your back — always apply.

Apple has already ordered two more seasons of Slow Horses, which will take us to the end of book 8, Bad Actors in season 7. In case you’re wondering why the numbers don’t line up, that’s because Apple plans for season 6 to combine books 6 and 7, Joe Country and Slough House into a single six-episode arc. Season 7 will then be based on the eighth book, after which there’s only one left, Clown Town, which only came out this month.

The extra book in the series, The Catch, is a novella, rather than a full novel, and bears the number “6.5.” It’s not clear how Apple plans to handle this one, but its spot in between books 6 and 7 suggests it might also be incorporated into season 6.

Even though it’s still likely two years away, Apple has given us a short teaser as to what we can expect from season 7:

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.

With a ninth book now available, we wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to see Apple renew Slow Horses for an eighth season to cover Clown Town. By the time that airs, Herron will hopefully have published a tenth book, which could open the door for it to continue into a ninth season.

The first four seasons were extremely well-received, with Rotten Tomatoes ratings in the high nineties, and two seasons scoring a perfect 100. If the next three seasons maintain the same momentum, Apple will likely continue the series into as many more seasons as Herron can write novels for.