Five seasons in, ‘Slow Horses’ is still getting a perfect score from the critics
Apple TV
Every year hundreds of new shows and movies join streaming libraries adding to the thousands of titles on offer. Standing out from the crowd is far from straightforward unless a production is a blockbuster franchise. This makes it all the more noteworthy when a sleeper hit surges in interest which is exactly what is happening right now.
Slow Horses isn’t your typical glitzy Apple TV+ production. Starring Kristin Scott Thomas and Gary Oldman, it tells the story of failed spies who end up getting drawn back into crucial cases. Based on a series of 14 books written by British author Mick Herron, it debuted in 2022 and quickly got the attention of critics with its gritty realistic premise which is far from James Bond’s world of black tie and baccarat.
It earned the show a second season which soon joined the exclusive club of productions with a 100% critics rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. It didn’t do it by halves as the score was based on 26 reviews with the critics consensus noting that “Slow Horses says neigh to the sophomore jinx with a second season that might be even better than its supremely addictive predecessor.”
By then, Apple knew it had a hot property on its hands and renewed it for two more seasons. The fourth repeated the trick with another 100% critics score making a fifth season inevitable.
That debuts tomorrow and has already pulled off the hat trick by getting another 100% score from critics. That’s not all.
Data from Google Trends, which analyzes the popularity of top search queries, shows that the show is on a roll. As IndieWire reported, interest in Slow Horses nearly doubled between season two and season three, reaching its peak during season four. It has smashed that ceiling since then.
Interest in ‘Slow Horses’ hit an annual high with the release of its fifth season
Google Trends
The chart above shows that this week Slow Horses has already hit a score of 100 representing the maximum relative interest worldwide over the past 12 months rather than the absolute number of searches.
There is often a lag between the release of a well-reviewed show and an increase in searches by the public as it takes time for word of mouth to spread. Season five of Slow Horses is bucking that trend though it remains to be seen if it can sustain it. Within a matter of days more original content will hit streamers and vie for audiences’ attention.
The show has already been greenlit for a sixth and seventh season so its future is safe. If it can continue to maintain its popularity in the face of stiff competition, Slow Horses is likely to run and run even longer.