Slow Horses Trots Out With a Season 3 Premiere Date

Despite the title, Slow Horses has wasted no time between seasons, following up its April 2022 debut with a second darkly comedic outing only eight months later. But we understand Apple TV+’s logic here. After all, when you’ve got a great cast and have found a niche as a cozy but gripping espionage drama — and at a time when premiere dates are often treated like government secrets — why wouldn’t you bring the Slough House gang back together as soon as possible?

Well, fire up the kettle, because Apple TV+ has just announced that Slow Horses will return for its third season on December 1. The Season 3 premiere will consist of two episodes, after which a new episode will drop every Friday through December 29. Mick Herron’s Slough House books will continue to serve as the basis for the show, with the new episodes drawing from, appropriately enough, the third novel in the series, Real Tigers.

Per the press release, Season 3 will see a romantic liaison in Istanbul lead to bombshell revelations in London, and the Slow Horses will “find themselves caught in a conspiracy that threatens the future not just of Slough House but of MI5 itself.” Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman), rumpled and astute as ever, will once more head up this team of misfits that includes River (Jack Lowden), Catherine (Saskia Reeves), Ronny (Christopher Chung), Louisa (Rosalind Eleazar), and Marcus (Kadiff Kirwan). David Cartwright, River’s grandfather and a retired MI5 agent, evaded an assassination attempt in the Season 2 finale, but since Jonathan Pryce is returning for Season 3, he probably won’t be MIA for long.

Season 3 of Slow Horses, which is adapted for TV by Will Smith (the Thick of It and Avenue 5 writer, that is) will also see some exciting new additions to the cast. Gangs of London star Ṣọpẹ Dìrísù will play Sean Donovan, the former head of security at the British embassy in Istanbul, and Katherine Waterston (late of Perry Mason) takes on the role of MI5 agent Alison Dunn, who “uncovers a dark secret at the heart of the agency.” There’s even more fresh blood in the form of Saul Metzstein, who directs the entire third season.

Danette Chavez is the Editor-in-Chief of Primetimer and its biggest fan of puns.