Slow Horses season 6: release date, trailer, plot, and all we know about the Apple TV series

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Slow Horses season 6: key information

- Season 6 arrives on September 16
- We have a trailer
- Main cast will return
- Plot to follow Mick Herron's ' Joe Country ' and 'Slough House' novels
- Season 7 expected to begin shooting in September/October
- Slough House spin-off, Down Cemetery Road is streaming now

Slow Horses season 6 is around the corner, with the gritty spy drama getting a bit of a name for itself. Not only for its thrilling action-packed scenes, but its incredible release schedule never leaving more than a year between seasons.

And it appears there's plenty more where that came from as Jackson Lamb and his team of down-and-out MI5 agents are returning for season 5, 6 and 7 over the next couple of years.

Adapted from the books by Mick Herron, Slow Horses season 6 already has a plot to follow and filming in the can, but there's plenty more to talk about when it comes to trailer, expected release date, predicted case, news, rumors and more. Though, I'll be sure to update here once season 5 hits Apple TV.

Potential spoilers follow for Slow Horses seasons 1 to 4.

Slow Horses season 6 release date

The first episode of Slow Horses season 6 will arrive on September 18, with episodes dropping weekly until the finale on October 21.

Apple TV renewed Slow Horses for season 6 just days after the season 4 finale – and, according to Deadline , the cast and crew have already finished filming.

In an official statement from Apple TV on the show's renewal, Jay Hunt, creative director for Europe said: "Audiences around the world have fallen in love with the Slow Horses, and I'm delighted that Gary Oldman will be leading this star-studded cast on another acerbic and action-packed adventure".

Slow Horses season 6 trailer: is there one?

The Slow Horses season 6 trailer is finally here, with the ever witty Jackson Lamb opening the action-packed trailer asking why so many Slow Horses are ending up dead.

Why indeed? Well, it turns out that there's a list of names, and everyone who has ever worked at Slough House is being targeted. Take a look at the trailer for yourself to see what's in store.

Slow Horses season 6 cast

Full spoilers follow for Slow Horses season 5.

Below is the confirmed cast for Slow Horses season 6.

• Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb

• Jack Lowden as River Cartwright

• Kristin Scott Thomas as Diana Taverner

• Saskia Reeves as Catherine Standish

• Christopher Chung as Roddy Ho

• Aimee-Ffion Edwards as Shirley Dander

• Rosalind Eleazar as Louisa Guy

• Ruth Bradley as Emma Flyte

• James Callis as Claude Whelan

• Tom Brooke as J.K. Coe

• Hugo Weaving as Frank Harkness

• Joanna Scanlan as Moira Tergorian

• Jonathan Pryce as David Cartwright

• Nick Mohammed as Zafar Jaffrey

• Lenny Rush as TBC

• Hiba Bennani as TBC

So, there's a new cast member that we know for certain is joining Slow Horses season 6 and that's Doctor Who's Lenny Rush who, according to the Radio Times , was spotted filming with Oldman in January.

Slow Horses season 6 plot synopsis

Major spoilers follow for Slow Horses seasons 1 through 4.

Slow Horses season 6 is confirmed to be the first season that will follow not one, but two, of Mick Herron's novels. As confirmed by Deadline, these will be ' Joe Country ' and ' Slough House', the sixth and seventh books in the series.

And the official synopsis from Apple TV for season 6 is as follows: "Season six sees the Slow Horses on the run as Diana Taverner embroils them all in a fatally high-stakes game of retaliation and revenge".

To delve deeper into the plot, it's also worth taking at the synopsis's for the books. For ' Joe Country ' that's: "In Slough House, the backwater for failed spies, memories are stirring, all of them bad. Catherine Standish is buying booze again, Louisa Guy is raking over the ashes of lost love, and new recruit Lech Wicinski, whose sins make him outcast even among the slow horses, is determined to discover who destroyed his career, even if he tears his life apart in the process.

"With winter taking its grip Jackson Lamb would sooner be left brooding in peace, but even he can't ignore the dried blood on his carpets. So when the man responsible for killing a slow horse breaks cover at last, Lamb sends his crew out to even the score.This time, they're heading into joe country. And they're not all coming home."

And for ' Slough House ': "Slough House - the crumbling office building to which failed spies, the 'slow horses', are banished - has been wiped from secret service records.

"Reeling from recent losses in their ranks, the slow horses are worried they've been pushed further into the cold, and fatal accidents keep happening.

"With a new populist movement taking a grip on London's streets, the aftermath of a blunder by the Russian secret service that left a British citizen dead, and the old order ensuring that everything's for sale to the highest bidder, the world's an uncomfortable place for those deemed surplus to requirements.

"The wise move would be to find a safe place and wait for the troubles to pass.But the slow horses aren't famed for making wise decisions."

Will Slow Horses get more seasons on Apple TV?

Slow Horses season 7 was officially confirmed by Apple TV in July and Deadline reported in June, whilst in conversation with Oldman, that "season 7 will begin shooting in the UK in late September or early October".

With season 5 following books 6 and 7 in Mick Herron's Slough House series, season 7 will follow ' Bad Actors'. There's also the soon-to-be published ' Clown Town' coming September 9, which could hint at at least one more season to come, but any news on this is unconfirmed.

There's also a Slough House spin-off series available to stream on Apple TV titled Down Cemetery Road, based on Herron's first novel of the same name.

Emma Thompson and Ruth Wilson star as Sarah Tucker and Zoë Boehm respectively, and the first season was well-received.

Apple TV's creative director, Hunt, said of the news: " Down Cemetery Road has all the hallmarks of Mick Herron's funny and acerbic writing, and I'm delighted we will be bringing it to life for Apple TV with such a stellar cast".

For more Apple TV coverage, read our guides on Ted Lasso season 4 , Foundation season 3 , Presumed Innocent season 2 , and Silo season 3 .