Slow Horses Author Reveals Why Those Shocking Deaths Had to Happen
After Min and Marcus’s shock exit, are more central characters next on the chopping block?
Slow Horses has never been sentimental about its cast list, and now we know that is entirely by design. Mick Herron, who writes the Slough House novels the Apple TV+ series is based on, just laid out why the show keeps taking a scythe to major characters — and, honestly, he is right. It is a spy show. If nobody ever dies, it turns into a hangout comedy.
Herron on killing his darlings
At a BFI Southbank screening and Q&A for season 5 (an An Evening With Radio Times event), Herron was asked why he is so willing to take out central players. He said he wanted the danger to feel real even though these agents are technically the Service’s sidelined screw-ups — and he wanted the loss to mean something to the people left behind.
"Apologies to the cast! That was something that I thought was going to be necessary if I were to write a series of thrillers about people doing what is essentially a dangerous job, even though they’re supposed to be sidelined. If I hadn’t killed any characters off, then it would have become more a sitcom, really."
He also said the first big death was about writing grief into the story and watching the team react in wildly different ways — from genuinely heartbroken to Roddy Ho (Christopher Chung), who, in Herron’s words, did not give a toss.
The body count so far
Just to orient you: season 2 killed off Min (played by Dustin Demri-Burns). Season 4 took Marcus Longridge (Kadiff Kirwan). Season 5 picks up with the Slow Horses still feeling Marcus’s absence when a string of increasingly bizarre incidents hits London. Most bizarre of all: Roddy somehow has a girlfriend. Yes, really.
New faces and the season’s angle
This run brings in a couple of key additions. Roddy’s girlfriend Tara is played by Hiba Bennani. And we meet London’s mayor, Zahar Jaffrey, played by Nick Mohammed.
Season director Saul Matzstein says Jaffrey is in the middle of a re-election fight against "a right wing provocateur character," with the show framing it as two competing visions of Britain colliding. He described the political thread as both direct and subtle, with trouble spreading across London and the mayor pulled right into the mess.
When to watch
Slow Horses season 5 lands on Apple TV+ on 25 September 2025.