Slow Horses Season 4 is easily one of the shows to watch right now on any streaming platform. The Apple TV+ series starring Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb, Jack Lowden as River Cartwright, and Kristin Scott Thomas as Diana Taverner is a must-watch for anyone who likes a genuinely gripping spy thriller.
Slow Horses Season 4 just came to an end on Apple TV+, and it left audiences with a lot of unanswered questions. The series ended on a cliffhanger, and viewers are now desperate to know what will happen next. What will happen to the enthusiastic River Cartwright in the next season? What will happen to the spies left at Slough House? They seem to be dropping off like flies! These are all questions that fans of the show have.
What happened in Slow Horses Season 4’s finale?
Credit: Apple TV Plus
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However, the main question viewers seem to want answered is: what on Earth happened in Slow Horses Season 4’s finale? It was somewhat confusing towards the end, and it’s not surprising that so many people have been turning to Google to try and figure out what exactly was going on and what it means for the future of the hit Apple TV+ series.
So, to understand what happened at the end of Season 4, we have to know how the season began. It all started with River Cartwright’s grandfather, David Cartwright (played by the excellent Jonathan Pryce), thinking he had shot his grandson in the face. It turned out it wasn’t his grandson but someone pretending to be River. River then turns up and makes it seem as though he was the one who had been shot.
River then goes to France to try and figure out why someone would want his grandfather dead. It turns out that David, who used to be a high-ranking official within MI5, had been involved with a rather sinister group operating from France. This group was a group of mercenaries, born killers, led by a very dangerous man called Frank Harkness (played by Hugo Weaving).
Who is Frank Harkness in Slow Horses Season 4?
Credit: Apple TV Plus
Frank Harkness is a former CIA agent who started this new group of killers for hire. The thing is, this isn’t a normal group of mercenaries. This a group of killers who’d been raised from birth to murder people, making them one of the most dangerous villains the down-and-out spies at Slough House had ever come up against. It has to be said that the people at ‘The Park’ in the MI5 were also not prepared for this new threat.
Harkness is, without a shadow of a doubt, the most sinister individual that anyone at MI5 has had to deal with throughout the four seasons of this show. He’s actually the main reason why people want Slow Horses Season 4’s finale explained more than anything else. Why, you ask? It’s simple. It’s because he survives. So, River catches Harkness in the show’s finale. However, when he’s at The Park being questioned by Diana Taverner, he makes it very clear that he doesn’t expect to be held for too long.
Will we see Frank Harkness again?
Credit: Apple TV Plus
Taverner then has a meeting with Lamb in which he reveals to her that Harkness has left a series of envelopes all addressed to high-ranking officials inside MI5. This was Harkness’ contingency plan, his ‘get-out-of-jail-free’ card, and he knew that these envelopes and whatever was inside them would grant him some sort of immunity as far as MI5 was concerned.
This basically means that Harkness escapes scot-free, and viewers are now wondering whether we’ll see him again in a future season. The answer to that is quite simple. Yes. We will. If you’ve read the books, then you’ll know that he does return. However, it’s still uncertain whether they’ll bring Hugo Weaving back as the character in future seasons.
River Cartwright’s difficult decision
Credit: Apple TV Plus
One of the reasons why Harkness was such a good villain was because it was revealed towards the end of Season 4 that he was actually River’s birth father. River didn’t figure that out until he went to France to try and find out who was behind the attempt on his grandfather’s life. It turned out that River’s birth mother was in a relationship with Harkness and fled to France with him.
River’s grandfather then gave Harkness what he wanted to get his daughter back. Harkness wanted UK passports he and his team of killers could use to travel around the globe without arousing suspicion. These passports are referred to in the spy business as “cold bodies,” and it seems as though they are used by spies in real life!
Credit: Apple TV Plus
However, it turns out that David Cartwright’s daughter was pregnant with Harkness’ child when she was brought back to the UK. That child turned out to be River, and Harkness was now trying to recruit River to join his merry team of mercenaries. Was River interested? No, not really. He actually told his father that he would rather see him rot in prison rather than join his group of killers-for-hire.
It does bring up some interesting questions about the show’s future. Will Harkness try to recruit River again? Will River be tempted by another offer from his birth father? Could everything that happened result in River and Gary Oldman’s Jackson Lamb becoming closer? Unfortunately, that might not happen.
When will Slow Horses Season 5 be released?
Credit: Apple TV Plus
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We know that Slow Horses Season 5 has already been shot and will be released within the next six months. People have speculated that the fifth season should be released in the Spring of 2025, and we cannot wait to watch it! Are you looking forward to watching the show’s fifth season? It’s undoubtedly one of the best spy thrillers to have been released in a long time, and it’s got a very loyal and growing viewership on Apple TV Plus!
You can stream seasons 1 to 4 of Slow Horses on Apple TV Plus right now.
