Gary Oldman Talks ‘Slow Horses’ Season Two And The Show’s Winning Formula

When the first season of Slow Horses landed on AppleAAPL
TV+ earlier this year, the streamer had already renewed it for a second season. However, that didn’t guarantee that anyone would watch it. Thankfully, the spy thriller based on the Slough House books of Mick Herron instantly found an audience and critical acclaim.

Now, the second season, filmed back-to-back with the first, is here. Two more are on the way. Gary Oldman returns as the flatulent, slovenly but genius lead of the Slough House team, Jackson Lamb.

I caught up with the actor to reflect on the show’s success, how he’s learned never to assume things will land, and why he’s happy to be tied to Lamb for several more seasons.

Simon Thompson: Were you surprised by the popularity of the first season? We spoke before anybody had seen it, and it landed exceptionally well. People were talking about it a lot on social media. Did you realize it was going to be as popular as it was?

Gary Oldman: You never know. The British footballer Jimmy Greaves always used to say, ‘It’s a funny old game.’ I remember being in a movie called True Romance, directed by Tony Scott and written by Tarantino, and it had Brad Pitt and Christian Slater. It seemed like a sure bet, and it opened and closed in theaters and then later became a bit of a cult film on DVD with fans. It was one of those things going in that you think, ‘Oh, this is just such fun. This has got to be a winner.’ It wasn’t. You always hope that people like your baby. You meet these people who are dedicated Mick Herron readers and really love his books, the ones that Slow Horses is based on. That’s one of the reasons why we have Mick Jagger doing music for the show. He was a fan of the books. Apple had so much faith in it that we were already greenlit to make season two before one frame of it had aired.

Thompson: Another two seasons were announced a couple of months ago. This is a journey that I assume is longer than you suspected. As you say, you never know if things will land, so this could have ended here. Were you ready to tie yourself down for multiple series?

Oldman: Oh, yeah. Knowing that there are eight books and he’s prolific. He’s going to keep writing. I don’t know if we’ll end up doing all eight, but I’d like to. I’ve just wrapped season three, they’re still shooting until early January, and we’re greenlit for season four at the end of February. That’s one I’m particularly looking forward to. Spook Street is the fourth one, and it’s just terrific. I love playing Jackson Lamb, the crew, and the company of actors; I’m happy to keep coming back as long as we have an audience and Apple wants to generously write those checks (laughs).

Thompson: Often, when the shows get renewed for seasons, people like to put more money behind them. Is it a case with Slow Horses that if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it? It works so well as it is; if you take the edges off, you might lose what it is.

Oldman: We have an advantage because we have the source material. When we were doing Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, we had a very good piece of advice from John le Carré, who is sadly not with us anymore. I happened to be there, and he said to the director, ‘Look, you need to make your film. Here’s the book, so go and make your film. If your film is shitty, my book will still be great.’ We know that these books work. We have the stories, we have the characters, some characters continue, and new characters will come in, but we know what these stories are. The blueprint is already there. What happens with some shows is they get to season five, and you’re in a writers room with them scratching their heads, saying, ‘What are we going to do? You can imagine a scenario where they’re thinking about what to do with Jackson Lamb. They’re thinking, ‘Maybe let’s do a thing where the ex-wife comes back, but she’s married to an American who works for the CIA,’ and they jump the shark. Then you’re with a series that started with truth and enthusiasm, and then suddenly you get to season six, and this character is something ridiculous. As a viewer, you’re like, ‘I’m done. I’m out.’ You have to switch it off. I don’t think we’re in danger of doing that. When we start season four, I don’t necessarily have all the scripts yet, but I know how good the book is. If we stick to that and the story and the book, we’re going to be in good shape.

Season two of Slow Horses has debuted streaming on Apple TV+ with new episodes premiering weekly on Fridays.