Gary Oldman Series Renewed for Season 5 by Apple TV+

Apple TV+ renewed the spy-thriller series Slow Horses for a fifth season last month, though Season 4 is still nearly a year away. The show stars Gary Oldman in an adaptation of a novel series called Slough House by Mick Herron. According to a press release by Apple, the show will go on for at least two more seasons, meaning fans should get onboard now.

Slow Horses was adapted for TV by screenwriter and showrunner Will Smith. It has been adapting each of Herron's books in succession, so this new season will cover his 2017 novel Spook Street. The show stars Oldman as the central character, investigator Jackson Lamb. The cast also includes Kristin Scott Thomas, Jonathan Pryce, Jack Lowden, Saskia Reeves, Rosalind Eleazar, Chung, Samuel West, Sophie Okonedo, Aimee-Ffion Edwards and Kadiff Kirwan.

Slow Horses has had a unique premiere schedule that makes it seem like new seasons have come out in quick succession. The series was first ordered in 2019, and the order was upgraded to two seasons in December 2020 just as filming was getting started. The filming schedule was interrupted by COVID-19, which may be part of the reason for the unusual release timing. Season 1 premiered in April of 2022 followed closely by Season 2 in December of 2022.

Apple TV+ renewed the series for two more seasons before Season 2 had even come out, and Season 3 just premiered in November of 2023. Smith told Decider that he expects Season 4 to premiere in December of 2024, so it looks like the show is settling on a more realistic schedule of one season per year. Still, the early renewal for Season 5 means that there will be plenty of time to work on it, or possibly even that both seasons can be filmed back to back.

The series is about an administrative department within the British intelligence agency MI5 called Slough House, where underperforming agents are sent when they are unwanted but can't be fired. They generally perform dull tasks for the agency, but the books and the TV shows are about some major investigations that they get wrapped up in. Oldman plays the boss, Jackson Lamb, who often takes his frustration out on his employees.

Slow Horses is streaming now on Apple TV+ with three seasons out so far. Season 4 is expected in December of 2024, and Season 5 is now officially on order as well.