Slow Horses director explains Season 6 book merge; fans cite ‘royal family’ arc as real reason

Slow Horses Season 6 combines two novels, stepping away from its one-book-per-season pattern. The news was confirmed by the director, Adam Randall, when speaking to Radio Times, where he said that Season 6 will be the first time the show combines two books, Joe Country and Slough House, written by Mick Herron. Adding to his answer, he revealed that he read both books and felt they were both great, but Joe Country did not have enough story for some of the main characters.

Deadline reports that Season 6 will follow the spies as they find themselves caught up in a dangerous revenge plot led by Diana Taverner. After the statements given by the director, fans have cited the 'royal family' arc as the real reason behind the merge.

A Reddit user speculated that the reason they combined the books is the royal family scandal storyline in Joe Country, saying they're combining the books for:

"Staying away from the covering up of a Royal’s scandalous behavior"

More on the story below.

Slow Horses Season 6 combines two novels, but what do fans think?

The Slow Horses director has opened up about the decision to combine two books for Season 6. Randall revealed that the upcoming season will bring together Joe Country and Slough House, something the show has never done before.

Joe Country, published in 2019, revolves around a missing teenager named Lucas, River Cartwright, and a former spy named Frank Harkness. The story also involves a senior member of the royal family, who is linked to a brutal incident with a young woman that Lucas witnesses and later tries to use for blackmail. Instead of agreeing to Lucas' demands, they decide to send mercenaries after him, which later puts the Slow Horses on the case.

The story also brings in Lech Wicinski, an MI5 analyst who finds himself in trouble after some illegal material involving children is found on his work laptop, which he believes is a setup someone did to frame him.

In Slough House, Diana Taverner decides to seek revenge after a poisoning attack tied to Russia, and she partners with Peter Judd. At the same time, Jackson Lamb's team learns they've been wiped from MI5's records.

Speaking about Season 6, the director further added that Diana Taverner and Jackson Lamb do not have as much to do in one of the books, so combining the two stories gave the team a chance to use both characters more.

However, fans are citing other theories behind the book merge, with one Reddit user pointing to three possible reasons behind the decision:

"1. The Lech story line as an accused and subsequently scared p***o not appropriate for general public viewing 2. Staying away from the covering up of a Royal’s scandalous behavior 3. An extended snowy rural chase in Wales not practical to film in the UK"

As speculated by the Slow Horses fan, Lech's storyline might have been too disturbing for TV, while the show might also have wanted to avoid the story involving a royal scandal. According to fans, these could be some of the reasons the makers chose to combine the two books. Fans also think that the long snowy chase might have been hard and expensive to film in the UK, which could be another reason for combining the two books.

Another Reddit user also pointed out that Louisa's return could be another reason for combining the stories, since her role is important in Joe Country, while her storyline in the show is different, adding:

"I also think you have a problem bringing Louisa back as she didn't quit in the books and she's so prominent in Joe Country"

However, these remain theories for now, as the makers have not commented on the same.

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Slow Horses Season 6 is scheduled to release on September 16.

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