Slow Horses: Olivia Cooke and Saskia Reeves on Making the Antithesis of a Spy Thriller
47If you’re a fan of spy series and Gary Oldman, I’ve got some great news to share: now streaming on Apple TV+ is Oldman’s new series, Slow Horses, and it’s absolutely worth your time. Based on Mick Herron’s best-selling novels and adapted for television by Will Smith (Veep), the series follows a team of British intelligence agents who serve in a dumping ground department of MI5 – Slough House. Oldman stars as Jackson Lamb, the brilliant but cantankerous leader of the spies who end up in Slough House due to their career ending mistakes. Loaded with fantastic performances, great dialogue, and storylines you normally don’t see in a spy series, Slow Horses is a welcome addition to the genre.
Slow Horses also stars Jack Lowden, Olivia Cooke, Saskia Reeves, Dustin Demri-Burns, Rosalind Eleazar, Christopher Chung, Paul Higgins, Freddie Fox, Chris Reilly, Steve Waddington, Paul Hilton, Antonio Aakeel, Peter Judd, and Jonathan Pryce. The series is produced by See-Saw Films. Graham Yost executive produces alongside Smith. Jamie Laurenson, Hakan Kousetta, Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, Gail Mutrux and Douglas Urbanski also serve as executive producers on the series. James Hawes directs all six episodes and executive produces.
Shortly after watching the first six episodes, I got to speak with Cooke and Reeves. They talked about why they wanted to be part of the series, how Slow Horses is the antithesis of a spy thriller that audiences have come to know, why they were blown away by the production design, Gary Oldman’s character, what people would be surprised to learn about the making of the series, and they tease what fans can look forward to in the second set of six episodes.
Watch what Olivia Cooke and Saskia Reeves had to say in the player above, and below is exactly what we talked about followed by the official synopsis. Slow Horses streams exclusively on Apple TV+ and releases new episodes every Friday.
Olivia Cooke and Saskia Reeves
What was it about the scripts and story that said I want to do this?
How the series is the antithesis of a spy thriller that audiences have come to know.
How each of their characters has a lot of secrets.
What might surprise people to learn about the making of the series?
The incredible production design of the series.
Do they think Gary Oldman’s character actually cares about his people?
What can they tease about the second half of Season 1?
Did they have all twelve scripts when they started filming?
How much did the scripts change during production?
How the filmmakers were very open to collaboration.
Here's the official synopsis for Slow Horses:
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. Oldman stars as Jackson Lamb, the brilliant but irascible leader of the spies, who end up in Slough House due to their career-ending mistakes as they frequently find themselves blundering around the smoke and mirrors of the espionage world.
#SlowHorses #OliviaCooke #SaskiaReeves
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