Actor Jack Lowden found returning to a character River Cartwright 'lovely'

Dec. 7—Jack Lowden holds onto hope — and that makes all the difference.

The actor is part of the cast of the Apple TV+ series, "Slow Horses," which releases the third episode of the second season on Friday, Dec. 9.

"Slow Horses is a spy drama following a dysfunctional gang of MI5 rejects stuck working in a decrepit fleapit known, unaffectionately, as Slough House.

As if that wasn't punishment enough, they must also suffer the ceaseless insults of their foul and flatulent boss, Jackson Lamb, played by Gary Oldman.

Once a legend within the service, Lamb's current mission is to force his unhappy band of buffoons to quit, but despite his best efforts, they find they must work as a team to defend the country from sinister forces both at home and abroad.

In the second season, long-buried Cold War secrets emerge which threaten to bring carnage to the streets of London.

When a liaison with Russian villains takes a fatal turn, our hapless heroes must overcome their individual failings and raise their spy game in a race to prevent a catastrophic incident.

Lowden plays River Cartwright in the series.

He says Cartwright finds himself in the same place in the new season.

"I think it's one of the things that is unique about this show," he says. "I think that the whole idea is that the Slow Horses in particular, they're given no hope of getting out. And River feels like he shouldn't be there still. He's incredibly frustrated. But I think there's a part of you that wants to hope that they begin to enjoy where they are. I think there's kind of a strange kind of freedom, working at that level, where no one expects anything from these little horses."

Lowden says his character does get an opportunity to expand outside of the Slough House this season.

Cartwright has always wanted to have more responsibility and be part of MI5.

"He's sort of given what he always wanted. A direct mission, particularly undercover," he says. "I can imagine that for anybody that works in the intelligence service to be actually given those things are probably what they've all dreamed of, since they were kids. And so it was really nice to give him that."

The second season premiered on Dec. 2 and the first season began airing on April 1 this year.

Lowden says both seasons were shot right after one another.

"There wasn't really a chance to breathe or think, which is a good thing to say to an extent," he says. "There was a lot more the continuity of it. How he felt was a lot easier to grasp. It was really lovely to give him what he wanted, in a sense."

Lowden says being with one character for so long was a first for him.

"I've never gone back to a character. It's lovely," he says. "I'm in the middle of shooting the third one, so it's really lovely to be able to carry him with me for this time."

Lowden is also grateful this opportunity came to cross paths with himself. He not only gets to work with Oldman, but Kristin Scott Thomas and Jonathan Pryce.

"Obviously, the world of espionage and intelligence, is always endlessly fascinating for everyone," he says. "The writing is brilliant and getting to spend that amount of time with Gary is amazing."

Now streaming

"Slow Horses" is now streaming on Apple TV+. New episodes are released on Fridays. The first season can stream in its entirety.