Slow Horses is an Apple TV+ television adaptation that is based on a book series by Award-winning author Mick Herron. Season 4, which is currently airing, is taken right from the fourth book of the series. The series follows a team of British intelligence agents who serve in a dumping ground department of MI5, called Slough House. Gary Oldman stars as Jackson Lamb, the brilliant but irascible leader of the spies who end up in Slough House due to their career-ending mistakes.
James Callis joins the cast of Slow Horses in its fourth season as Claude Whelan, who is appointed as Director-General replacing Dame Ingrid Tearney. Callis is best known for his role as Gaius Balter in Battlestar Galactica and the voice of Alucard in Castlevania. Slow Horses season 5 has already been confirmed. Slow Horses streams on Apple TV+.
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Screen Rant interviewed James Callis to discuss him joining Slow Horses in season 4. He reveals that he was late to the party in watching the series, but that once he started watching it, he was hooked. Callis also talks about working with acting legends like Gary Oldman and Kristin Scott Thomas. He also teases what he can about his character's Slow Horses season 4 journey.
James Callis Was "Late To The Party" With Slow Horses
"I think I saw it six or seven months after it came out."
Screen Rant: Were you a fan of Slow Horses before you joined the cast?
James Callis: I'd seen the first season, but when I found out I was going to be in the show, that's when I watched the second one. Of course, I was a fan of the show. I think I was also at the stage where I just happened to find it. It wasn't as famous as it is now, if you know what I mean. I think I was late to the party. I saw the first season, but I think I saw it six or seven months after it came out, and I don't know if I had heard about it before that.
Claude Whelan Is Mild-Mannered, But That Is Not A Strength In Sough House
"AHe might be thinking about his wife and what she's got on for dinner that night."
Screen Rant: What can you tease about your character's journey in season 4?
James Callis: What can I say? He's he's learning on the job, but some things you can't learn on the job. He's a different energy from people that we've seen previously. He's a whole bundle of contradictions in the book, at least as well, which doesn't really come in. There's a tiny bit later, later, later on, but really, the most important person in Claude's life is his wife. We don't really get to see that. At certain points where it looks like Claude doesn't know what's going on, he might be thinking about his wife and what she's got on for dinner that night. He's mild, Claude. He's mild-mannered. I think he thinks from where he comes from that could be a strength. But it's not.
The Slow Horses Cast & Crew Were Very Welcoming
"You can be that way because you're in such a trusting, great environment surrounded by great people."
Screen Rant: What was it like joining such a well-established cast?
James Callis: A very, very warm place to come to. Everybody knows each other really well and over the years have become really good friends with each other. That's both the cast and the crew. So it's familial. It's very warm and light-hearted. It's quite British, the energy of things in the morning. You know, morning, Jeffrey. Morning, John. It's a very well oiled machine. I think of it absolutely like a family that I'm very lucky to be a part of. And for these guys, it's like they're welcoming in some extended part of the family. It is really joyous because some of the stuff that we're doing, a lot of it, it's very high stakes and some of the stuff is very tense, and it's not like that when we shout cut. It's good-humored and good-natured. It's been an absolute joy.
And the material that you're working on, it's good. The writing is so wonderful that everybody's invested in this. Everybody. When you're on set, you've all got sides for the day. They break down what time people are coming in in the morning and the hair and the makeup and a sheet for the whole day. It's got all the lines on it for all of the scenes. It's just a little pamphlet. It's not just the actors looking at that little pamphlet, it's the whole crew. Everybody's got the thing out looking at the lines like, "OK, yeah, that's what's going to be happening here and there."
So it's wonderful. The amount of work that goes into it, the amount of people involved to make the thing that you see work on television is mind boggling. It really does take a village, or more than one village. It's a big enterprise. And you're supported by the enterprise and then everybody in it supports each other, a bit like a blockchain. So I think that allows everybody to be. It's fearless. There's something about that. Even the people who don't look like they know what's going on. It's fearless, but also, you can be that way because you're in such a trusting, great environment surrounded by great people.
Slow Horses' Gary Oldman & Kristin Scott Thomas Are Incredible, Lovely People
"Their film and television experience and theatrical experience is just legendary."
Screen Rant: What was it like working with Gary Oldman?
James Callis: Incredible. The lion's share of work that I've done is with Kristin Scott Thomas, who is also incredible and just amazing. I was working out, actually, even if I do jobs from now until whenever, I'll still never have done as many jobs as Gary and Kristin. Their film and television experience and theatrical experience is just legendary. Gary is nothing like Jackson Lamb at all. That's what is so brilliant. He is warm and kind and generous and funny. So funny. So what's not to love? The whole thing is just a gift.
There's the people on the set. They're doing this thing. It's very assured. There's there's this assurance that allows for a real generosity. You're doing this thing together. You're amusing each other, and you're working with incredible scripts, lines, things to say, courtesy of Will Smith, who is also wonderful. It's so qualitatively different from the thing that you see on television. It's the United Kingdom of snark, but that's just when they shout action. Honestly when you're involved in something like that, there's no place you'd rather be. The crew is there every day, every single day, working so much harder than somebody like myself, who comes in for whatever, two weeks, three weeks over time.
Great civility. Great, great energy. I think the energy of the show comes from the top. The other thing as well is, not that things aren't, but it's so professional. And I mean that in the very best way. There's this phrase. I wanted to bring this into an interview. There's some book Gertrude Stein wrote. I think it's about English literature. But the quote is, and I'm paraphrasing because I can't remember exactly, but it's something like "It's really fundamental to know exactly what is and what is not your business."
There's so much stuff you can be dithering over. You're like, actually, that's got nothing to do with me. Somebody else do that, I should be doing this. There is that thing on set that everybody has their thing, what they're doing, and they do it brilliantly. So there's this kind of fluency and it feels like it's not rigid at all. Everything is up for grabs. Let's try and do it this way. It's maybe a bit like a dance. And it's a fun dance.
More About Slow Horses Season 4
Slow Horses is an adaptation of CWA Gold Dagger Award-winning Mick Herron’s first novel in the "Slow Horses" series, which follows a team of British intelligence agents who serve in a dumping ground department of MI5 – Slough House. Gary Oldman stars as Jackson Lamb, the brilliant but irascible leader of the spies who end up in Slough House due to their career-ending mistakes.
- Christopher Chung
Slow Horses season 4 has just started streaming on Apple TV+, with weekly episodes releasing every Wednesday.
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Slow Horses is an adaptation of CWA Gold Dagger Award-winning Mick Herron’s first novel in the "Slow Horses" series, which follows a team of British intelligence agents who serve in a dumping ground department of MI5 – Slough House. Gary Oldman stars as Jackson Lamb, the brilliant but irascible leader of the spies who end up in Slough House due to their career-ending mistakes.
- Cast
- Jonathan Pryce , Kristin Scott Thomas , Jack Lowden , Gary Oldman , Saskia Reeves , Chris Reilly , Rosalind Eleazar , Christopher Chung , Olivia Cooke
- Release Date
- April 1, 2022
- Seasons
- 4
- Streaming Service(s)
- Apple TV+
- Writers
- Will Smith , Mark Denton , Morwenna Banks