{"id":636238,"date":"2026-08-14T05:06:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T05:06:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/636238\/"},"modified":"2026-08-14T05:06:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T05:06:15","slug":"slow-horses-what-showrunner-will-smiths-exit-means-for-season-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/636238\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Slow Horses\u2019: What Showrunner Will Smith\u2019s Exit Means for Season 6"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tSlow Horses, Apple TV\u2019s wry cult spy series, isn\u2019t planning on, well, slowing down anytime soon.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe show, starring Gary Oldman<\/a> as the crotchety and flatulent Jackson Lamb; Jack Lowden as River Cartwright; and Kristin Scott Thomas as MI5 director Diana Taverner, hit a bit of a snag at the end of its most recent fifth season, when lead writer and executive producer Will Smith walked away from the show for other pursuits.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile Slow Horses<\/a>, which films in Britain, doesn\u2019t operate with a traditional showrunner, Smith served as the de facto captain at the helm. His departure raised some questions about the future of the slow-burn series. However, executive producer Doug Urbanski says the production, in part because there isn\u2019t a lone showrunner, had built up a creative foundation that meant if they couldn\u2019t figure out the best way forward, they should all resign.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWill leaving really meant that we just had to solve it, and I think we did, as you will see with season six about to premiere,\u201d Urbanski says. \u201cSome people have seen it already and have said they think it\u2019s the best season yet. Now we\u2019ve heard that season after season, but it is very good.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter the first couple of seasons flew under the radar, Slow Horses has in recent years cemented itself among shows consistently vying for critical recognition. For its most recent season, the show nabbed nine Emmy noms, including lead and supporting actor nods for Oldman and Lowden, as well as best drama series.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere\u2019s not one award that I\u2019ve been nominated for that I haven\u2019t been surprised by, and the same goes for Gary,\u201d Urbanski reveals. \u201cAwards<\/a> add another sort of pressure to the whole thing. \u2026 So we don\u2019t really think about awards, and we don\u2019t make the show for awards. But the recognition is nice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe sixth season of Slow Horses is set to premiere Sept. 16. Co-executive producer Gaby Chiappe was tapped to serve as lead writer for the season, which will be the first in the series to adapt two of author Mick Herron\u2019s books for a single season \u2014 usually one book nets out to one six-hour run of a season.<\/p>\n

\n\tUrbanski says in order to keep the character and story momentum of previous seasons going, combining the sixth and seventh books in Herron\u2019s series made the most sense. \u201cWe thought the two books each were thin enough,\u201d he explains, adding that Herron\u2019s novels remain the creative foundation for the series. \u201cOften some of the best dialogue and scenes you see in the show are stuff that Mick Herron has already authored.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWith nine books on the shelf and a seventh season of TV based on the eighth novel already in production, the runway for the series after that point remains a question for fans. Urbanski says, however, the creative team is committed to keeping the show going, so long as they\u2019re able to continue balancing its delicate tone and everyone involved \u2014 Apple, Oldman, etc. \u2014 wants to keep showing up.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe\u2019re all having the family conversation,\u201d Urbanski says. \u201cBut get this: Most TV shows don\u2019t have books, so we can figure this out. \u2026 And there\u2019s another thing: Mick Herron hasn\u2019t stopped writing. I can\u2019t speak for Mick, but you never know, more books might be coming.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThis story first appeared in an August stand-alone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Slow Horses, Apple TV\u2019s wry cult spy series, isn\u2019t planning on, well, slowing down anytime soon. The show,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":636239,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[265],"tags":[4648,18,6135,221362,117,10563,19,17,10564,128],"class_list":["post-636238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-awards","tag-eire","tag-emmy-awards","tag-emmys-2026","tag-entertainment","tag-gary-oldman","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-slow-horses","tag-tv"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117092128944512920","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=636238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636238\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/636239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=636238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=636238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=636238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}