Award-winning spy thriller Slow Horses confirms exciting renewal news ahead of new-season premiere

Ahead of the season six premiere of Slow Horses, Apple TV has confirmed that the acclaimed spy thriller has been renewed for an eighth season.

News of an eighth instalment comes ahead of the release of season six on the streaming platform on 16 September, with a seventh season already commissioned.

Season eight will be adapted from Clown Town, the ninth novel in Mick Herron's Slough House series, with Gary Oldman set to reprise his role as Jackson Lamb.

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An official synopsis for season eight reads: "Season eight sees Jackson Lamb and Diana Taverner face off in their most explosive confrontation yet.

"When a botched attempt to blackmail the Park puts Taverner on the offensive, it is up to Lamb to unravel one of MI5’s darkest secrets and put an end to it once and for all."

While no other cast members have been announced for the eighth outing, news that Oldman will return will reassure fans, given the series’ willingness to kill off major characters.

"Slow Horses continues to charm audiences all around the world and I’m delighted that Jackson Lamb and his gang of lovable misfits will be back for an eighth season," Jay Hunt, creative director at Apple TV, said.

"Their acerbic take on the high-octane world of espionage is completely unique."

The upcoming sixth season of Slow Horses is adapted from the sixth and seventh novels in Herron's books and follows a team of MI5 agents led by Oldman's Lamb.

Related: First look at Slow Horses star Olivia Cooke in new British thriller with "brilliant twists"

Oldman returns for season six alongside Jack Lowden, Saskia Reeves, Christopher Chung, Rosalind Eleazar, Joanna Scanlan, and Kristin Scott Thomas.

Speaking to Radio Times recently about his character's future, Oldman admitted he had heard a rumour that Herron knows exactly when and how Lamb will die.

"You don’t really get much help from Mick Herron," he said. "You ask him questions, and he says, 'Oh, I don’t know about that. If it’s not on the page, then I haven’t thought about it.' Which I don’t believe for a minute. I heard recently that Mick knows when, where, and how Lamb will cop it…"

Slow Horses season 6 will premiere on Apple TV from 16 September. Seasons 1–5 are streaming now.

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Harriet is a freelance news writer specialising in TV and movies at Digital Spy. 

A horror enthusiast, she joined Digital Spy after working on her own horror website, reviewing films and focusing largely on feminism in the genre. 

In her spare time, Harriet paints and produces mixed-media art. She graduated from the University of Kingston with a BA in fine art, where she specialised in painting. She also has an MA in journalism from Birkbeck University.