Slow Horses is a new spy thriller following a team of British intelligence agents who serve in a dumping ground department of MI5: Slough House. Gary Oldman (The Dark Knight) stars as Jackson Lamb, the brilliant but irascible leader of the spies who end up in Slough House due to their career-ending mistakes. Joining Oldman is a decorated ensemble including Rosalind Eleazar and Dustin Demri-Burns.
You can read our review of the series by clicking here, and after catching up with Oldman and Jack Lowden earlier this year, we recently got to speak with Eleazar and Demri-Burns about playing Min and Louisa in the show. Two of the spies relegated to the purgatory that is Slough House, their characters form an unlikely bond and end up playing an unexpectedly pivotal role in saving the day.
In this spoilery chat, we learn more about how they factored into key moments in the Apple TV+ series and get some intel about that action-packed finale. The duo also tease what lies ahead for Slow Horses, teasing where their respective stories will go when the show returns for its second season.
Slow Horses is a must-watch, and we'd definitely recommend checking it out. Scroll down to watch the full interview and check out the trailer for this riveting, unique, and thrilling British spy drama.
All episodes of Slow Horses are now streaming on Apple TV+.
I really enjoyed the dynamic between your characters, and now you can look back at these six episodes, why do you think Min and Louisa stay loyal to Slough House and do you think this budding romance is the driving factor?
Rosalind: I do think that they stay loyal to Slough House with the hope they may be going back to MI5. I think that’s what they’re all hoping for in their own way, and I don’t think any of the Slow Horses really believe that the reason why they were relegated to Slough House was a good enough reason. Maybe their relationship…
Dustin: Yeah, it probably keeps them a bit more interested in those grim four walls they have to reside in [Laughs]. I did wonder at the beginning reading it whether Min had resided himself to earning money just to support his alimony, but there’s always that hope, like you say, because it’s not a good enough reason to be there. This is unfair, but there’s always that chance of redemption.
Rosalind: I basically shouldn’t have answered for Min like Lousia does in the show, but that’s typical of our relationship [Laughs]. She just takes it right out from him.
Dustin: That was a little passive-aggressive of me. ‘Talking for myself…’ [Laughs]
Rosalind: [Laughs]
Dustin: I’m glad you answered it first. It was a very good answer.
Like everyone in the cast, Gary Oldman is on top form here, but what are some of your favourite memories from working with him? Particularly you, Dustin, because you’re really getting berated by him a lot in this show.
Dustin: It was fun getting berated, and if it’s going to be anyone, I don’t mind it being Gary Oldman. Funnily enough, when we all sat down for the read-through, I remember we hadn’t really spoken and I was a bit nervous, especially as he was there. I just watched him pick up the stack of scripts, and he sort of did this to himself as everyone is a bit nervous and getting to know each other, and he picked up this big wad of scripts that was the first six episodes, gave a good feel of the weight of them, dropped them on the floor, and went ‘This is going to be a good show this.’ I just thought that’s great. He’s fun.
Rosalind: He is a lot of fun to be around. He’s quite childlike in the best possible way which is why he’s a great actor. He’s always playing. He’s silly. He certainly doesn’t behave as Gary Oldman. You feel very comfortable around him. It was lots of fun working with him, wasn’t it?
Dustin: Yeah, everyone was lots of fun. It was a good laugh and a good ensemble. Then, the icing on the cake was you, Rosalind [Laughs].
Rosalind, we don’t necessarily get the full story behind what brings Lousia to Slough House in this first season, are you hoping the show follows the book or do you think there’s more story to tell there?
Rosalind: I believe it’s going to be revealed in a later season. Certainly, in season 2, we see a huge development in Louisa and Min and Lousia’s relationship. We’ve seen bits of it and it’s looking pretty good. We’re pretty excited about season 2 coming out, but their relationship develops drastically and I obviously can’t say what happens, but for people who haven’t read the book, there are things that are pretty catastrophic that initiate Lousia onto her own mission.
Dustin, I think you get one of the most awkward fight scenes in spy series history going down those stairs, but what was it like to shoot that and the aftermath? Again, you end up on the receiving end of another berating from Jackson Lamb.
Dustin: It was the best. That scene, in particular, was the best example of the show for me in that you’ve got these moments of proper action and exciting edge of your seat action, but it’s undercut with this eye-rolling ‘What have you done?’ and ‘I didn’t mean to do it.’
Rosalind: That’s the best line ever.
Dustin: Yeah, when he says later ‘I didn’t mean to kill him’ and Lamb comes back with, ‘I know you didn’t. If you had, he would still be alive.’ That’s just the perfect balance of the show for me. To do it was exciting. Us creeping around the office was exciting.
Rosalind: I got a concussion. Do you remember? [Laughs] I got a concussion in one of the fight scenes.
Dustin: I did all my own stunts, yes. Famously. I insisted on it.
Rosalind: [Laughs].
Dustin: It’s always disappointing when you want to do more and they’re like, ‘No, get the guys in!’ You’re saying, ‘I can do it, I can do it,’ and they’re like, ‘No you can’t.’ Then you see them…
Rosalind: You did it well, though, because you did do your own stunt at the beginning.
Dustin: Yeah, I went pretty far, but I didn’t do the whole thing.
Rosalind: You didn’t fall down the whole stairs.
Dustin: You watch it back and see that these guys can fling themselves down the stairs just like that.
There was plenty of action in the final episode and there’s that awesome sequence at the end with the helicopters overhead and things get very tense and dramatic. What was that like for you both to shoot?
Rosalind: That particular scene, the helicopters were creating this wind and part of the set lifted off the ground.
Dustin: It’s like a play that went wrong.
Rosalind: It started to roll towards us.
Dustin: While we’re trying to do our best serious dramatic acting.
Rosalind: That was really fun. We had to a lot of running. We were pretty out of breath, weren’t we?
Dustin: We were running and the helicopter is coming overhead and we’re trying to get there before it.
Rosalind: The timing of that has to be so precide because the helicopter is going around and then they call ‘Action’ and the time when River arrives and when we have to arrive all has to be perfectly succinct.
Dustin: Again, it’s that same thing. It’s all dramatic and intense and then it’s undercut with a finger up and ‘Piss off!’ It’s good fun to do and very exciting. It was a great week and a real highlight.
Rosalind: It was fun.
I’m glad you both got to be involved because it looked for a moment like you’d be left behind when Jackson and River go bombing past your characters in the car. You must have been relieved to see the script and realise you’d get in on this action-packed finale?
Dustin: Just! By the skin of our teeth. It’s only because he has to go back past us, right? He spins back around after going past us and we’re not going to be involved, but he goes back and we get in [Laughs] and go along for the ride.
I thought it was great that the finale included a trailer for season 2. No one knew it was coming until then, so what was it like keeping the fact you’d completed twelve episodes a second and not just the six we’ve seen?
Rosalind: It was pretty fun!
Dustin: It’s nice to have a few secrets. After all, we are agents [Laughs]. We’re good at keeping secrets.
Rosalind: I think we’re just really excited for season 2. Particularly for us with Min and Lousia, it develops in a certain way. We can’t say too much or it will give it away for people who haven’t read the books, but…
Dustin: We’re in it more! We’re featured more!
Rosalind: [Laughs] Yeah, basically.
Are you hopeful that there might be a season 3?
Dustin: I thought you were going to say, ‘Are you hopeful that there might be a spinoff?’ I’m always hopeful for that.
Rosalind: I don’t know, but I have a pretty good sense that there probably will be a season 3 and 4. A pretty good sense. We’ll find out!