The second season of the Gary Oldman-led espionage thriller series “Slow Horses” has begun unrolling on the Apple TV+ service, and Oldman has been out there tubthumping the series in various interviews.
Previously Oldman has spoken about how his role of Jackson Lamb in the show could be the last job he does before retirement, and in subsequent interviews he indicated he’s sticking with that plan.
That includes a recent interview with The Playlist’s Bingeworthy podcast where he says:
“There may be something that comes along that might interest me in between, but I would be more than happy to end a career that has been a great career playing Jackson Lamb.”
There’s one role that could entice Oldman into sticking around. He tells the outlet he has always wanted to revisit his take on John le Carre’s iconic character George Smiley from “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” and do the other big Smiley novel that le Carre wrote. In fact, he confirmed an adaptation of “Smiley’s People” almost happened:
“I wanted to revisit [George] Smiley, and that nearly happened but didn’t through many reasons. There is, obviously, a very delicious sequel, ‘Smiley’s People,’ after ‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,’ even though George appears in other stories, but that, particularly, is a great Smiley tale. So, that would have been nice to revisit that one.”
Oldman sees comparisons between Lamb and Smiley, with both putting on something of a front that downplays how actually smart and strategic they are:
“Jackson Lamb – that training that he has and that talent that he has for it, that in some ways he shares with Smiley in that sense. He’s very, very smart and often three or four chess moves ahead of whoever he’s with, in spite of himself. He wants to be able to say, ‘I don’t care.'”
How long Oldman plays Jackson Lamb depends on the viewers and on Apple wanting to continue. “Slow Horses” has already been renewed for a third and fourth season (of six episodes each), with both currently in production back-to-back.
There are eight books in total, enough to craft a further four seasons (they shoot two seasons at once), so the possibility of Oldman’s retirement is at least a few years away.
