All the pieces are in place for a socket Slow horses finale – season four antagonist Hugo Weaving certainly thinks so.
English, best known for his role in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, has joined the cast of this season of Apple TV+'s hit spy thriller based on Slough House series of novels by Mick Herron. Weaving plays Frank Harkness, a former CIA agent turned cult leader who aims to populate the planet with trained assassins (who will happily do his father's sinister bidding).
But as the season unfolded, viewers came to realize that Harkness may be none other than River Cartwright's (Jack Lowden) biological father — after all, the physical similarities between River and “Robert Winters” aka Betrand, who David Cartwright of Jonathan Pryce photographed and killed, they are quite disturbing.
Meanwhile, the greasy, drunken but incredibly wise Jackson Lamb played by Gary Oldman, has set out to locate the elderly Cartwright, who suffers from dementia and is losing his memory. Although Catherine Standish (Saskia Reeves) was less than pleased with Lamb's methods, the leader of Slough House plodded along and harshly convinced David that his nephew, River, is dead. When David admits that he did everything “for her”, referring to his daughter, the former MI5 officer's involvement with Harkness becomes terrifyingly clear.
Isobel, River's mother (played by Anna Wilson-Jones) was taken and impregnated by Harkness in Les Arbres. To get his daughter back, David explained that he exchanged cold body passports with Weaving's character and supplied Les Arbres with weapons and money.
All this while Emma Flyte (Ruth Bradley), the new Chief of the Dogs, is trying to track down David. Kristin Scott Thomas stars as Diana Taverner, Naomi Wirthner as Molly Doran, Rosalind Eleazar as Louisa Guy, Aimee-Ffion Edwards as Shirley Dander and Kadiff Kirwan as Marcus Longridge in the highly anticipated season four finale, “Hello Goodbye” (airing 8 October). 9 on AppleTV+).
Below, Weaving speaks The Hollywood journalist about turning to Herron's books for inspiration, about why Frank Harkness helps focus our attention on what Slow horses really speaks to what audiences can learn from the season finale while waiting for the already renewed fifth season: “For a viewer, I think it works. It's a great way to end the season.”
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I'm interested to know, were you a fan of the show before your involvement?
I literally said to myself, “I have to look Slow horses.” I had heard about it and thought I had to watch the first season, because it's there [lots of] things I want to see, you know? Then the next day, I got an offer to play Frank with six scripts. And I thought, “Well, I'll definitely watch it now.” So I read the script and watched the first season pretty much on the same day.
It was a fantastic role and it was very easy to say yes. One of the things I did before signing was that I also wanted to read the books Frank appears in. I really rushed to read anything to do with Frank. I read three books just to get as much information as possible about Frank that wasn't actually contained in the on-screen season at the time.
Did you find that you were letting that character in the books influence your portrayal on screen?
Yes, it was like that. I wanted to see what Mick Herron had to say about Frank, who he was from Mick's point of view. Because it is man who created it, initially. And then, what's the difference between Frank in the book and Frank in the series? And there were definitely differences in emphasis. I always want to bring as much complexity as possible into each character, as much contrast as possible. Because the more contrasting someone is, the more real they are. For me all human beings are complex. So I'm always fascinated by the complexities in characterization and character, and Frank is a gift, in a way, because he's like a father figure. So he should be a teacher, an educator, right? But it is also lethal. He's also a killer. You would actually be incredibly wary of dealing with this man. It's a fabulous dichotomy, I think. It's a fantastic new addition to the Slow horses family, and is a fascinating man in his own right.
And your portrayal is extremely sinister but has so much depth. Is playing the role of a villain ripe territory for you?
I talk about the villain, but from an acting point of view, I never think that the character I play is the villain. I understand that maybe in the structure of the movie or TV series, that's the role. But I don't find it useful. It's useful to know, but then there's not much more you can do about it. Finding the human being, that's what you have to chase.
Do you find Frank very different from the characters you've played before?
Yes, I do. I think he's someone working in the shadows. He's in intelligence. It's a secret and it's also gone off track. It's clandestine, it's rebellious. He went against his own organization, the CIA. In a way he is highly evolved and not sentimental. He knows exactly what the Secret Service does and what they sometimes need to do, and how some of the things they're involved in have to be completely deniable, like, “We had nothing to do with the killing of this world leader. We didn't do it.” He understands that and I think that's the world he operates in. So his experience is very unusual. It's not something most people would have. Yet as a human being, when we see him and he comes face to face with someone, he doesn't need to look like that. Unless he wants to be threatening, he must be kind, polite, charming and obedient. It is intensely capable but also buried, hidden. These things don't reveal themselves very often because they don't need to and shouldn't. Otherwise he isn't doing his job well.
I'm careful not to give too much away, but with the finale coming up, what can we expect? Is there a fight between Frank and River? Is Frank River's father, as viewers strongly suspect?
[I love] this whole idea about Slow horses centered on a dysfunctional family. Slough House is a house where many children live, cared for by a father figure, Lamb. And they all want Lamb's love, but in reality they don't want it and they also feel rejected by the other house they lived in: the other parent, the mother. And in that world of needing to be noticed and to be accepted, that we all feel, here's why Slow horses it's a fantastic series. This season seems to be increasingly about family. David is losing his marbles, the only father figure is losing his marbles. Another father figure, Lamb, is still there. And then this [other] the father figure comes into play. So something about Frank's introduction Slow horses focuses our attention on what Slow horses it's actually about. And I think that's really fascinating.
Can you give us a teaser of what's to come?
River gets kidnapped… We already know he was put in the trunk of a car. He is brought to this place by Patrice, the robotic killer. The beginning of the sixth episode is the coolest thing. There's a lot of tension because there's a time bomb element, but there's also a desire that Frank wants to take River with him. It's an absurd offer for River, but it's an extreme proposal on Frank's part.
It's exciting. They are fantastic scenes. They're really, really enjoyable scenes to have done, to have played. They were great scenes to explore, and for a viewer, I think it works. I think it's a fantastic season. It's a great way to end the season.
What was it like working with this cast? It must be nice to see a great like Gary Oldman at work.
Well, unfortunately I didn't have any scenes with Gary. We were going to be on set for about two days at a time, I think we were working on the same set, but Gary got COVID at the time and they had to reschedule his scenes. So I never got to meet him, but I hope to meet him.
I enjoyed working with Jack. I've worked with Jack quite a bit, and also with Naomi who plays Molly Doran, I've worked with her a bit and she's lovely. Tom Wozniczka, who plays Patrice, and Kristen Scott Thomas, there's a scene in episode six, which was fabulous to do with her as well. So it was a great pleasure to meet all those lovely actors and work with them. Ruth Bradley: Fabulous, wonderful addition. Once again, a great character. I had a great time working on the series. He's a very well-oiled machine, but he's also a good-natured human machine. A nice set to be on.
Slow horses will release its sixth and final episode on Apple TV+ on October 9.