Will Smith Takes ‘Slow Horses’ To Thrilling New Highs In Season Three

Since its debut on Apple
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TV+ in April 2022, Slow Horses has become a real jewel in the crown for the streamer. It’s a confident punt that has paid off.

It had already renewed the show for a second season before the first dropped on the platform. Similarly, the third and fourth seasons received the thumbs-up before the second season aired. The spy thriller that boasts a killer ensemble cast led by Academy Award winner Gary Oldman is now one of Apple TV+’s most popular drama series.

“I think we did the writers room for this third season towards the end of the season one shoot in 2021 and maybe the start of shooting season two? Honestly, it’s a bit of a blur,” chuckled the show’s writer Will Smith. “There has always been one in the edit and one in prep or shooting, so I slightly forget where I am.”

“It feels like a total luxury that Apple took the leap of faith in Slow Horses to commission as many episodes as they did in advance of season one airing. I haven’t had the time or the space to think so much about the audience reaction, but after a while, you can only work with what’s in front of you and hope everyone else likes it.”

It’s safe to say that they do. As well as being a hit with fans, the acclaimed show has won numerous awards.

The third season, now streaming on Apple TV+, is subtitled Real Tigers, after the author Mick Herron’s book. For those who don’t know, Slow Horses sees Oldman as Jackson Lamb, the drunken and disheveled intelligence agent given the job of overseeing a collective of MI5 service rejects who are in the dog house and have escaped being fired. In season three, Lamb and his team get dragged into a conspiracy that threatens the futures of both MI5 and Slough House.

“When I read the books, which I loved, I thought they had the potential to make a terrific series. When I first sat behind the monitors and saw Gary being Lamb, I knew we had a terrific show. You could see it, and I still have that feeling now,” Smith recalled. “I watched them do a scene, and it’s just like watching the show, and that’s before we edited it, put in any music or effects or wherever it is. You think, ‘Oh, my God, it’s all there in the performances.’ The cast is incredible, and they’re so alive as the characters. You do have the thought that if I’m having that reaction and I know the material, hopefully, that’s how the audience feels when they’re watching it on screen.”

Smith, also an executive producer on Slow Horses, feels in total lockstep with the cast and their characters, which takes season three to new places.

“After a while, you start to write to the actors’ voices and rhythms, which, to be honest with you, I felt I started doing when I saw Jack Lowden’s casting tape. He has so much of the humor and drama required for playing River Cartwright; Jack can do anything. He’s incredible,” the multi-hyphenate enthused. “Once you cast people, you start to hear them, and you know what the actors are going to do with the line. I hope I’m giving them what they want; they’re having stuff that is challenging them, and they’re still enjoying it. The characters move on each season, and there is something new you can explore, which is brilliant.”

Smith calls the Slow Horses ensemble “an incredible dream cast,” adding that he can work with them on a returning series, “which makes it even better.”

“This season, River starts to realize his grandfather, David, played by Jonathan Pryce, is losing his mind; David realizes it too and starts getting angry about it. I watched them do those scenes, and there’s so much tenderness, poignancy, and sadness in it that it felt like it on a different register to anything we’ve done before,” he recalled. “It gave me an idea for something to do in a later season, so you end up feeding off them and their brilliance.”

Smith continued, “The action sequences are fantastic; they’re really exciting, but it’s also about the gripping drama. When you have Jack and Jonathan together this season, there is one scene where River goes against his grandfather for the first time and sees him in a different light, thinking maybe he’s not the hero he thought he was, that’s powerful.”

However, that is something that Smith will take little credit for.

“It’s Jonathan Pryce. He’s saying the words I’ve written, but he brought that and added that little tremor. He is one of the greatest actors alive,” the writer said. “It’s incredibly compelling and moving and real. You can see he’s working it out and the discomfort he’s going through in the loss of dignity he’s struggling with, and not wanting to admit it; he’s very proud. I can’t take credit for it.”

Something Smith relished getting to do in the show’s third season was deep dive into the conflict between two of MI5’s top brass, Kristin Scott Thomas’ Diana Taverner and Sophie Okonedo’s Ingrid Tearney.

“It’s great seeing them go head to head, especially in one particular scene. It’s incredibly tense and gripping seeing these incredible actors face off,” the writer explained, referring to an opener that packs as much punch on its own as an entire episode. Surprisingly, the perfectly executed powerhouse interaction was shot with little rehearsal.

“We wanted to, and then, for various reasons, we couldn’t get together before the shoot,” Smith recalled. “However, they’re at the level where they just bring it, and you know there’s enough thought put into the scenes, the writing and what’s going on that, that if there are any questions or any lines that need changing, they will get in touch. I definitely talked with them individually about little adjustments. I never want the actors to get on set and be like, ‘I don’t understand the scene,’ or ‘What’s this?’ They were tremendous in those scenes, and the joy of the show is that you’ve got those chamber pieces going on, you’re coming to the mayhem at that facility with grenades and guns going off, it’s life or death stuff.”

As much as Slow Horses continues to be about tension and action, humor also plays a big part in its appeal. It’s a tricky balance to get right, as is making sure it does not feel like the show is retreading the same ground but staying fresh.

“That’s something I’ve worked hard at. It’s something I learned from years of working for and with Armando Iannucci on Veep and In the Loop and so on. He never wanted to repeat himself and was like, ‘Oh, we’ve done that story or dynamic. Let’s move on,’ and I carried that with me as well. That’s one of the many lessons I learned from working with that genius, but Mick Herron changes things up in the books and has the same approach. He doesn’t want to repeat himself, so he’ll kill characters off and bring new characters in so it’s there in the stories.”

“In terms of the tone and feel of it, you’re right; I never want it to feel sticky. I don’t want it to feel like Lamb is doing a bit like, ‘Oh look, Lamb’s done a fart.’ Honestly, Gary would kick off about that, and he’s not going to do it. It’s got to feel fresh and organic, and you can’t feel like you’ve repeated yourself. You’ve got to find a way to make it feel familiar enough but different, and that’s the challenge.”

Although he’s keen to follow Herron’s original text, Smith relishes having the opportunity it offers to “do things that go to different places.”

“I think the show also benefits from getting a different director in for each season. Mick also helpfully set the books in different seasons of the year,” he explained.”I never want the actors to feel like they’ve done a scene before, and they need to feel the characters are changing and evolving. You can see the change Jonathan’s character is going through this season and the changes that River then has to go through, and there’s the massive shift between Lamb and Catherine Standish. All sorts of shifts go on across the series, and it’s just about keeping those going.”

As well as Lamb’s trademark farts, his penchant for F-bombs remains a crowd-pleasing element. That said, how does Smith know when the balance is right? Does he write them in or leave it up to the actors to make the call?

“They are written, but the f**k count will always go up because actors will throw them in. We found that on Veep and The Thick of It, too. It’s on the page, but I’m very collaborative, and I hope the actors would feel that I’m very open, so I always try and get it in their voice, and if they’ve got any thoughts about how it can change, I’ll always accommodate that. They have the license to make it their own, and the rhythm is right when they say it.”

“In terms of Lamb’s farts, that is set, and Gary sees it as more of a character thing; it’s like a tactic Lamb uses to put someone off their stride, show them disrespect or to confuse and disorientate them. It’s not gratuitous from Lamb. It might appear that way, but it isn’t. It’s definitely part of the character that Gary wants, and I’m pretty sure he will correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure he was the one who was like, ‘Let’s open with a fart.'”

Smith concluded with a chuckle, “It says what the character is, and then we’re off, but Lamb probably farts less than you think. It’s probably one or two a season, but you think it’s like every episode. I still can’t quite believe that we were allowed to introduce Oscar-winning actor Gary Oldman to the Apple TV+ audience by waking himself up farting, but we did.”