Just as season 5 of Emmy-winning Slow Horses ended, there was a surprising teaser for the upcoming six-episode season 6, which has already been filmed. Slow Horses season 6 will be based on Mick Herron’s novels Slough House and Joe Country.
The all-star cast reprises Gary Oldman in his Emmy-nominated role as Jackson Lamb, who leads the team of oddities that can’t quite get kicked out of the service. In season 6, Diana Taverner (Kristin Scott Thomas) will be promoted to First Desk after the bumbling, escort-loving, rescue fantasy Whelan was ousted.
The rest of Lamb’s team will return, including Frank Harkness, River’s mercenary father, last seen in season 4, as well as newcomers Harry Lloyd (Game of Thrones) and Lenny Rush (Am I Being Unreasonable?). Reportedly, revenge is afoot as Jackson Lamb tries to even the score by going after a man who killed one of his “joes” in the past.
As Slow Horses season 6 has already been filmed, we're looking at it arriving on Apple TV in 2026. There's even more great news for the continuation of the story.
Slow Horses "will continue to fly and keep getting better and better."
Based on the trailer, Slow Horses season 6 looks dark and action-packed. Lamb continues to be Taverner's foil and issues the warning, "you got a leak that Julian Assange would be proud of". This shift in tone makes the stakes seem even higher for MI5 and may require Jackson Lamb to emerge from his curmudgeonly, standoffish shell and enter the fray.
According to Entertainment Weekly, creator, writer, and executive producer Will Smith left after season 5. Smith said, “It will [keep going], and Mick is still writing amazing books, so it will continue to fly and keep getting better and better.”
It seems that the new season will shift away from the more comedy-of-errors tone of season 5, when Roddy Ho fell for a honey trap that exposed the service to a terrorist plot, to a more action-heavy thriller.
I get the feeling there was a bit of kickback about season 5 being too goofy. While I loved the adorably delusional Roddy Ho and the smarmy First Desk Whelan, there comes a point when the characters become dangerously close to caricatures. It was a little difficult to believe that, given his level of incompetence, Whelan would be running MI5, especially since Diana Taverner was so freaking good.
The other dogs, including Flyte, bumbled their way through the episodes, with Slough House saving the day. I admire U.K. TV’s insistence on airing actors that look and act like real human beings, compared to the hyper-polished veneer of actors on U.S. TV, but we are talking about one of the world’s most powerful spy agencies here. At least make it believable that they are in their jobs for a reason.
We did get a little additional glimpse into Jackson Lamb at the end of Slow Horses season 5, where his ever-present feet on the desk were shown with burn scars on his soles. Now we know that Lamb’s tale about being tortured during his younger spy days to protect a pregnant lady-love was true. We all suspected Jackson had a heart, but now it’s confirmed. I wonder if this story will play at all into season 6?
If season 6 is similar to the last two seasons, which premiered in September 2024 and 2025, the season 6 premiere is likely to air in the fall of 2026.
Slow Horses season 7 is also happening
That's not all. There will be more of the crime thriller, as Slow Horses season 7 has also been greenlit. In fact, production on the season will start in October 2025, with the hope that the season will arrive in 2027.
Slow Horses season 7 will focus on the novel Bad Actors, and is expected to see Gary Oldman back in the leading role. We'll have more to share at a later date.
Slow Horses is available to stream on Apple TV.
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