Gary Oldman says it's fun to humiliate people as Slow Horses spymaster Jackson Lamb
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Season 2 of the Apple TV+ espionage show Slow Horses (premiering Dec. 2) finds Gary Oldman's slobbish, sharp-tongued spymaster Jackson Lamb investigating what he regards as a suspicious death with help from his team of disgraced MI5 agents.
"It begins with the death of an old Cold War-era spy called Dickie Bow," Oldman says. "He turns up dead of natural causes, so the story goes, and Jackson suspects that there's something a little more nefarious going on and that it must connect back to the old Berlin days. Suspecting foul play, he gathers his misfits to begin an investigation into what is really going on."
Jack English/Apple TV + Gary Oldman in 'Slow Horses' season 2
As part of that investigation, Lamb sends Jack Lowden's eager-beaver spy River Cartwright undercover.
"He's given a task that is definitely more in his ballpark and what he thinks he should be doing," Lowden says of his character. "It's lovely to give him the opportunity to show what he can do."
Saskia Reeves plays Lamb's assistant Catherine Standish who, the actress reveals, also steps up to join the spying game this season.
"She is underestimated by the people in the office, particularly someone like Roddy Ho (the team's computer wizard, played by Christopher Chung) who's very insulting of her capabilities," Reeves says. "She's like, you know what, I'm going to try and be helpful here."
Season 2 sees two new agents at Lamb's Slough House base: Shirley Dander (Aimee-Ffion Edwards) and Marcus Longridge (Kadiff Kirwan).
Lowden says the "nicest word" for Shirley is "prickly." He adds, "Marcus has got his issues as well. I don't want to give too much away, [they] just add to the wonderful cocktail of people that are in Slough House."
Earlier this year, showrunner Will Smith reassured EW that Oldman's Lamb will be as unpleasant to his underlings this time around as he was in season 1. Are those scenes fun to play for the Darkest Hour star?
"Well, they are," admits Oldman. "Jackson is deliberately confrontational, he does it for sport, and he can be very cutting and very cruel, because he will publicly humiliate people. Now, to play that is just fun. You read those lines in the script and you go, I can't wait to see the expression on Jack Lowden's face when I give him this zinger!"
Slow Horses season 2 premieres on Apple TV+ Dec. 2. Watch the new season's trailer below.
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