[Spoilers] Season 6 of Apple TV’s excellent Slow Horses ends with Jack Lowden’s River Cartwright seemingly dying of poisoning in his grandfather’s home.
It’s a cruel ending that cuts short a romantic reunion between River and Olivia Cooke’s Sid Baker, who made a triumphant return in Season 6 after seemingly being killed off in Season 1.
After several Horses meet a grisly end, Season 6 looks set to end on a lovely note, with Sid surviving her part of the ordeal, waiting at River’s grandfather’s for him to come home.
But when he does, touching a poisoned crowbar leaves him scrambling on the floor, struggling to breathe, and Sid running a bath upstairs, none the wiser.
The credits roll, and with Season 7 already filmed, a teaser for next year’s Slow Horses story sees Gary Oldman’s Jackson Lamb quip that River is sending a postcard from “the afterlife”.
Fans who haven’t read Mick Herron’s novels, which Slow Horses is based on, will now be wondering about River’s fate.
Moreover, Lowden is a frontrunner to be the next James Bond, so is he making a quick exit to take on the big job?
Not exactly.
While the Season 6 finale ends on a cliffhanger, fans of the books will know River survives, and Lowden has been spotted on location filming for Season 8.
Variety spoke to Season 6 director Adam Randall to discuss that shock ending and Lowden’s return to Slow Horses.
So while Cooke’s return in Season 6 was a shock to Slow Horses fans who don’t read the books, Randall, who is directing episodes for Season 8, finds it “frustrating” that Lowden’s continued involvement is already widely known.
“I was there shooting [last week], it was in Walthamstow, and we’re out everywhere shooting.
“I was amazed no one saw Olivia when we were shooting Season 6, but we got away with that. But this one is much more public.
“We’re really out and about, and we’re about to go even wider out in London, so there’ll be a lot more spottings of Jack. So I don’t think we can keep that secret.”
New cast members joining ‘Slow Horses’ Season 7
Season 7’s teaser shows Russian agents on British soil, ready to enact some more revenge upon Lamb’s joes.
It’s based on Herron’s Bad Actors Slough House novel, and will have Lamb’s team hunt to find and neutralise a mole at the heart of the British Government.
Several new cast members are joining the fun, including: Varada Sethu (The Other Bennet Sister, Andor), Ethan Moorhouse (The Moment, Ludwig), Tuppence Middleton (Downton Abbey: A New Era, Mank), Merab Ninidze (Homeland, The Courier) and BAFTA nominee Joshua McGuire (The Gold, Anatomy of a Scandal).
Also returning is the pompous former first desk at MI5, Claude Wheelan, played by James Callis, who, according to the Bad Actors blurb, will play a central role.
The blurb reads: “In MI5 a scandal is brewing and there are bad actors everywhere. A key member of a Downing Street think-tank has disappeared without a trace.
“Claude Whelan, one-time First Desk of MI5’s Regent’s Park, is tasked with tracking her down. But the trail leads straight back to Regent’s Park HQ itself, with its chief, Diana Taverner, as prime suspect. Meanwhile her Russian counterpart has unexpectedly shown up in London but has slipped under MI5’s radar.
“Over at Slough House, the home for demoted and embittered spies, the slow horses are doing what they do best: adding a little bit of chaos to an already unstable situation.
“In a world where lying, cheating and backstabbing is the norm, bad actors are bending the rules for their own gain. If the slow horses want to change the script, they’ll need to get their own act together before the final curtain.”
Season 7 of Slow Horses is expected to air on Apple TV in September 2027.
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