// 9TO5MAC — MOBILE & WEB
Slow Horses showrunner explains finale shock ending, season 7 trailer debuts
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: