‘Slow Horses’ Season 6 Sets September Debut Slot
Apple TV has decided to keep 'Slow Horses' as its main fall premiere for a third year, with Season 6 starting in September 2026.
Hot off the finale of Criminal Record, Apple TV has announced the forthcoming premiere date of its other hit British thriller series, Slow Horses. Based on the Mick Herron thrillers, the series was Apple TV’s first major sleeper hit, and a major reason the high-end streamer has invested in a steady stream of British shows. It’s also one of the few shows that Apple TV has consistently renewed early – Season 6 was announced in October 2024, and Season 7 has already been confirmed to follow for over a year as of this writing.
The long-running series is based on The Slough House Series, which currently runs nine novels and five short stories. Seasons 1 through 5 covered Slow Horses, Dead Lions, Real Tigers, Spook Street, and London Rules; Season 6 will be the first to combine novels, mashing up 2019’s Joe Country and 2021’s Slough House. Season 7 has already been confirmed to switch back to the one-book-per-season model, adapting 2022’s Bad Actors. That leaves the most recent installment, 2025’s Clown Town, for a potential (inevitable?) Season 8.
(No, we don’t actually think Clown Town is the final novel; Herron is still actively writing, and a tenth book is expected to be announced in due course.)
Here’s the Slow Horses synopsis for Season 6:
Slow Horses is a darkly humorous espionage drama that follows a dysfunctional team of British intelligence agents who serve in a dumping ground department of MI5 known un-affectionately as Slough House, run by Jackson Lamb, the brilliant but cantankerous leader of the spies who end up in Slough House due to their career-ending mistakes and who frequently find themselves blundering around the smoke and mirrors of the espionage world. Season 6 sees the Slow Horses on the run as Diana Taverner embroils them all in a fatally high-stakes game of retaliation and revenge.
Tom Brooke, Aimee-Ffion Edwards, and Kristen Scott Thomas in 'Slow Horses' Season 6 (Apple TV)
Gary Oldman (Oppenheimer) returns for Season 6 as Jackson Lamb, with co-leads Jack Lowden (The Gold) as River Cartwright, and Kristin Scott Thomas (Rebecca) as Diana Taverner. They’ll be joined by longtime series regulars Saskia Reeves (Roadkill) as Catherine Standish, Rosalind Eleazar (The Personal History of David Copperfield) as Louisa Guy, Christopher Chung (Blitz) as Roddy Ho, Aimee-Ffion Edwards (Wolf Hall) as Shirley Dander, and Jonathan Pryce (The Crown) as David Cartwright.
The newer ensemble members who came aboard in Season 4, including Hugo Weaving (Patrick Melrose) as Frank Harkness, Joanna Scanlan (The Larkins) as Moira Tregorian, Ruth Bradley (Guilt) as Emma Flyte, and Tom Brooke (Bodyguard) as J.K. Coe, all return as well. Samuel West (All Creatures Great & Small) returns as Home Secretary Peter Judd after sitting out Seasons 4 and 5. Season 6 also adds Lenny Rush (Doctor Who) to the roster in an as-yet undisclosed role.
Gaby Chiappe, who takes over from Slow Horses’ longtime lead writer, Will Smith, is adapting Season 6 for television. Season 4 director Adam Randall returns to helm all episodes of Season 6. Chiappe, Randall, and Oldman are listed as executive producers, alongside Jamie Laurenson, Hakan Kousetta, Julian Stevens, Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, Gail Mutrux, and Douglas Urbanski.
Slow Horses Season 6 is set to debut on Wednesday, September 16, 2025, followed by one episode per week through October. Season 7 is expected to follow in 2027. Seasons 1 through 5 are streaming on Apple TV.
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