Apply TV+’s highly-rated British spy series Slow Horses is all set to launch its third season. The thriller series is based on British novelist, Mick Herron’s Slough House book series. The first two seasons of Slow Horses were adapted from the books Slow Horses and Dead Lion respectively, while Slow Horses Season 3 is set to be adapted from Real Tigers. There’s also a fourth season in the works that will be taken from Spook Street.
The show’s plot follows a group of formerly disgraced and rejected MI5 agents who are sent to the uneventful department called Slough House. Prepared for a doomed career, the agents sit out their jobs until a major conspiracy stirs things up in the first season. Led by the disgruntled chief, Jackson Lamb, played by Gary Oldman, the agents decide to prove their merit and efficiency as agents. By the second season, the Slough Housers have managed to ward off two major national threats and uncover long-buried Cold War secrets. Slow Horses Season 3 will now return with the team trying to save one of their own while foiling a rogue agent. So, it looks like these so-called bungling agents are good at their jobs after all, and Lamb has no choice but to get a move on and do what a chief is supposed to do.
When it first premiered in 2022, Slow Horses became instantly popular among fans and critics, with special praises for Oldman’s performance as a grumpy, disgruntled agent. The reviews for the second season were positive as well, with critical acclaim for the cast. Ahead of the show’s second season premiere, Slow Horses got renewed for back-to-back third and fourth seasons. The filming for the third season has wrapped up, and the fourth season is in progress.
With a new season, comes new characters, newer mysteries, and more thrill. So, brace yourself as Jackson Lamb and his super slick stallions take you on another exciting spy adventure when the all-new season lands this 2023. If you are a fan and waiting eagerly for the new season, then this quick guide below will inform you about what’s coming next to the Slough House. Read on to find out everything we know so far about Slow Horses Season 3.
Editor’s Note: This article was updated on November 7, 2023.
What is the ‘Slow Horses’ Season 3 Release Date?
Follows a team of British intelligence agents who serve as a dumping ground department of MI5 due to their career-ending mistakes.
Cast Gary Oldman, Olivia Cooke, Jack Lowden
Genres Drama
Seasons 3
Streaming Service Apple TV+
Slow Horses Season 3 will debut with two new episodes on Friday, December 1, followed by one new episode weekly, every Friday through December 29, on Apple TV+. You can use the following link to watch/re-watch the first two seasons:
Watch on Apple TV+
What Is ‘Slow Horses’ Season 3 About?
Slow Horses Season 3 is based on Herron’s third book in the Slough House series, Real Tigers. Once again, Jackson Lamb is out on the field chasing a mystery. It looks like that as soon as he tries to return to his original comfort zone, life throws him a curveball. This time also Lamb will have to set aside his resentments and get to business. In the third season, when Catherine suddenly goes missing, Lamb and his agents will be putting their lives at stake once again to find her and discover a rogue agent.
Watch the ‘Slow Horses’ Season 3 Trailer
In December 2022, at the end of the second season of the thriller series, Apple TV+ revealed a sneak peek into Slow Horses Season 3. Although not a formal season trailer, the clip gives a quick look into what’s in store in the future. The minute-long teaser clip hints at the mysterious disappearance of Catherine Standish, played by Saskia Reeves, and the secrets that follow. We also see Jack Lowden’s River Cartwright and Jackson Lamb returning to the new season, where Cartwright looks injured, Lamb is his usual caustic self, and an ominous voiceover warns about a “reckoning.” The rest of the team, including members old and new, seem to be scrambling to find answers to the new mystery.
Apple TV+ released the full trailer for Slow Horses Season 3 on November 7, 2023. Clocking in a shade under two minutes long, the trailer serves as a wonderful glimpse at wants to come.
How Many Episodes Are There in ‘Slow Horses’ Season 3?
The first two seasons of the British spy series have six episodes each, with each episode running for 41 – 53 minutes. So, although the episode guide for Slow Horses Season 3 is not revealed yet, we can expect that the upcoming season will follow the same number of episodes as the previous two. And just like the first two seasons, Slow Horses Season 3 will most likely get a two-episode premiere, following which every new episode will stream weekly.
Who’s In the ‘Slow Horses’ Season 3 Cast?
Slow Horses gained recognition for its quirky ensemble cast and their brilliant performances. The first two seasons saw a bunch of people come and go but the main Slow Horses cast members who drive the series will be definitely returning. After all, we cannot imagine the Slough House without its slovenly, grumpy chief Jackson Lamb, played by Academy Award-winning Gary Oldman. Joining him since Season 1 is Jack Lowden as River Cartwright, the newbie to Slough House who soon manages to gain recognition within the team; Academy Award-nominate Kristin Scott Thomas as the tough and powerful Diana Taverner, Lamb’s former colleague and now the Deputy Director-General of MI5 who would “stop at nothing” to get the job done, and Saskia Reeves as Catherine Standish, the office admin, and a recovering alcoholic who gets kidnapped in the third season.
Among other significant characters, we can also expect to see the return of Rosalind Eleazar as Louisa Guy, an effective Slough House agent; Christopher Chung as Roddy Ho, the team’s tech expert; Jonathan Pryce as David Cartwright, River’s grandfather; Freddie Fox as MI5 agent James “Spider” Webb, who is constantly in a feud with River; and Dustin Demri-Burns as Min Harper, a Slough House member with a romantic interest for Louisa. Aimée-Ffion Edwards and Kadiff Kirwan, who joined the Season 2 cast are also set to return from Season 2 as Shirley Dander and Marcus Longridge, respectively.
Joining the existing cast members, the upcoming third season of Slow Horses will also see a long list of newcomers. As announced, Gangs of London star Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù will join the spy series for Season 3 and will continue through Season 4. Dirisu stars as Sean Donovan, the former head of security at the British embassy in Istanbul. Hugo Weaving, Joanna Scanlan, Ruth Bradley, Tom Brooke, and James Callis are set to join the fourth season’s cast, so there’s a chance some of them could appear in Season 3 as well.
Who Are the Creators of ‘Slow Horses’ Season 3?
Apple TV+’s Slow Horses is written by Morwenna Banks, William James Smith, Jonny Stockwood, and Mark Denton with Saul Metzstein set to direct Season 3. James Hawes and Jeremy Lovering directed the first two seasons, while Adam Randall will join as the director for Season 4.
Banks is a comedy actor, writer, and voice artist, best known for writing the British film, The Announcement, and appearing in television shows like Saxondale, Shameless, and the BBC Comedy Celebrities STFU. James Smith is a stand-up comedian, screenwriter, novelist, actor, and producer, best known for co-producing and co-writing Veep, Damned, and Back, and executive producing Avenue 5. Both Stockwood and Denton are best known for previously writing for White Dragon, Medici, and iBoy. Metzstein is best known for directing the 2002 film, Late Night Shopping, for which he won the British Academy Scotland New Talent Award for best director. He has also directed various episodes of television series like Doctor Who, The Musketeers, Our Zoo, You, Me and the Apocalypse, and Living the Dream.
Daniel Cohen is the cinematographer for the latest seasons of Slow Horses, and he is best known for working in award-winning films like The King’s Speech, Les Misérables, Room, and The Danish Girl, among many other projects. If you found the opening credit song of Slow Horses familiar with nostalgic chords, it’s because Rolling Stone front-man, Mick Jagger performed and co-wrote the song with the show’s composer Daniel Pemberton. Pemberton is most known for composing music for films like Steve Jobs, Gold, Motherless Brooklyn, The Trial of the Chicago 7, and Being the Ricardos, among various other projects. Since 2022, he is credited as the composer for Apple TV+’s popular murder mystery comedy, The Afterparty (set to release its second season this summer).
Smith continues to serve as the executive producer for the series, along with Iain Canning, Hakan Kousetta, Jamie Laurenson, Gail Mutrux, Emile Sherman, Douglas Urbanski, and Graham Yost. Slow Horses is produced for Apple TV+ by See-Saw Films and Flying Studio Pictures.
