The Slow Horses season 6 finale is available now, with a shocking ending that is explained by new showrunner Gaby Chiappe in an interview. Plus, Apple has debuted the first trailer for season 7.
If you haven’t yet watched the Slow Horses season 6 finale, stop reading here.
Slow Horses was marked this season by a high number of character deaths.
That continued in the finale that just aired with the death of Emma Flyte at the hands of River’s father, Frank Harkness.
But in the final moments of the episode, there’s another character who seemingly dies too, and in far more shocking fashion: River Cartwright.
It’s not entirely clear what caused the death, though. Here’s the official explanation from head writer and season 6 showrunner Gaby Chiappe (via Gold Derby):
Actually, the groundwork is laid in Episode 2 when Jim and Jane [the assassins played by Kyle Soller and MyAnna Buring] come knocking on the door and River and Sid are hiding. You see Jim looking around and there’s a little bottle lying on the table. He looks around and sees the crowbar that River brought in with him, and we have to assume that he paints it with what’s in the bottle, which — given that there have been nerve agent attacks elsewhere — it’s a Novichok attack.
We had a lot of debate about that. Will people know what it is and what’s happening? It’s taken from the book, but in the book it’s left on a doorknob, which is slightly different. It’s still the idea that something happened in the corner of your eye, but you didn’t quite know what it was. And the assassin who laid it is long dead now.
Though Chiappe doesn’t technically confirm that River is dead, the season 7 trailer certainly suggests that’s what has happened.
Here’s the season 7 trailer that airs at the end of the finale, courtesy of Apple TV News Hub on X:
Here’s the first teaser for #SlowHorses Season 7!Releasing next year on Apple TV pic.twitter.com/LaTlq2TUPs
Apple recently announced that Slow Horses has been renewed through season 8. Season 7 has already completed filming, with an air date expected in or around September 2027.
What did you think of this season of Slow Horses and the finale ending? Let us know in the comments.
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Ryan got his start in journalism as an Editor at MacStories, where he worked for four years covering Apple news, writing app reviews, and more. For two years he co-hosted the Adapt podcast on Relay FM, which focused entirely on the iPad. As a result, it should come as no surprise that his favorite Apple device is the iPad Pro.
