Slow Horses Season 6 Review: ★★★★☆ (4/5)
Slow Horses Season 6 delivers everything longtime fans expect: sharp performances, witty banter, and polished tension, but its familiar formula is starting to feel predictable rather than surprising six seasons in.
Rating: ★★★★☆ (4/5)
Platform: Apple TV
Genre: Spy Thriller
Based on: Mick Herron’s novels
Cast: Gary Oldman, Jack Lowden, Kristin Scott Thomas, Saskia Reeves
For some people, autumn’s arrival is marked by pumpkin spice lattes or the first hint of brown creeping into green leaves. For fans of Apple TV’s Slow Horses, it is marked by something else entirely: the return of Mick Herron’s misfit spies for another season of bureaucratic chaos and reluctant heroism.
Season 6 opens with the return, however brief, of Struan Loy, a disgraced former agent fired by Jackson Lamb, played by Gary Oldman, back in the show’s very first season. Loy meets a fiery end that raises immediate alarm bells. As Catherine Standish, played by Saskia Reeves, puts it, somebody appears to be systematically killing off former Slow Horses agents.
What exactly these off-the-books rejects did to draw the attention of Russian assassins, and why MI5 chief Diana Taverner, played by Kristin Scott Thomas, seems to have quietly erased their existence from official records, becomes the driving mystery of the season, as the team races against time and foreign threats to save their own.
Drawing from two of Herron’s novels, this season juggles a fair amount of plot, blending a central kill list mystery with heavier geopolitical stakes for Taverner to navigate. The story also brings back River Cartwright, played by Jack Lowden, currently grieving his grandfather’s death, and reunites him with Sid Baker, played by Olivia Cooke, whose return has been heavily promoted ahead of the season.
The two stumble through flirtatious near misses while dodging contract killers, while Standish gets paired once again, to reliably funny effect, with Joanna Scanlon’s endearingly fussy Moira.
After six seasons, it is hard to fault Slow Horses for leaning on its greatest hits. Much of the show’s enduring charm still comes down to Gary Oldman’s commitment to playing Lamb as a brilliant, greasy mess of a man, seemingly incapable of any real character growth, and that consistency remains a real pleasure to watch.
Given persistent rumors that Lowden is on the shortlist to play James Bond, his performance here draws extra scrutiny too, and the show smartly gives him another chance to showcase River’s signature blend of charm and dashing incompetence.
Apple TV has quietly built itself into one of the most consistently strong streaming services around, and Slow Horses might be its most dependable series of all, almost to a fault.
Each new season essentially follows the same rhythm: an outside threat puts Slough House in danger, Lamb clashes with MI5 headquarters, one of his agents meets a dramatic end, and Lamb’s pragmatic approach ultimately wins out regardless.
That predictability comes at a real cost. Where a major character death once hit like a genuine gut punch, similar moments this season carry noticeably less weight, simply because the show’s rhythms have become so familiar.
That said, Slow Horses remains one of the simplest, most reliable pleasures on television right now. It carries the soapy energy of a classic spy drama, elevated by genuinely excellent lead performances and Apple’s clearly generous budget.
The show is beautifully shot, its action sequences are well choreographed, and the tension is handled with real confidence throughout. It may not be interested in reinventing itself at this point, but as far as sturdy, dependable prestige entertainment goes, Slow Horses still delivers exactly what it promises.
If you’re looking for a spinoff that takes more creative risks with familiar franchise material, our review of Neagley, the Reacher spinoff that confidently steps out of its predecessor’s shadow, is worth checking out too.