Slow Horses is a darkly humorous espionage drama that follows a dysfunctional team of British intelligence agents who serve in a dumping ground department of MI5 known un-affectionately as Slough House. Oldman stars as ‘Jackson Lamb,’ the brilliant but irascible leader of the spies, who end up in Slough House due to their career-ending mistakes as they frequently find themselves blundering around the smoke and mirrors of the espionage world.
The British espionage series aired its thrilling and action-packed finale just yesterday and I was able to have a nice chat with star Christopher Chung who plays Roddy Ho in the series as he spoke about how amazing it was to play a character who isn’t subservient and spoke about his dream roles from playing Bond to a role in Shang-Chi 2.
The series has been quite thrilling so far and as a fan it has been great to speculate week by week, how was it like for you?
To watch it week by week cause I haven’t watched the whole series yet as I’ve been wanting to watch it with my wife. So having had read the scripts already and knowing what happens, I still found that at the end of every episode you’re left with this cliffhanger even though I know what’s coming to see it translated on screen is phenomenal and such a joy to be held in that suspense for a week. So I’m really looking forward to the pay-off tomorrow.
Roddy is supposed to be a bigger part of the last episode, could you expand on that and give us a little teaser?
I think Roddy’s been a big part of the whole season to be honest. I mean the whole thing wouldn’t have have happened if it wasn’t for him. That’s just the arrogance of Roddy coming out of me. I apologize, but no, I think their are certain points in tomorrow’s episode where you see that he really does kind of give the pieces of information to the group that are incredibly necessary to resolve what’s going on.
How has it been playing the character?
It was an incredible joy to play him. I remember in my first audition with James Hawes and Will Smith the writer, just saying to them what an incredible joy it was to pick up a character like Roddy and not have to be a subservient kind of beholden character that is servicing everyone else’s goals and objectives. Where i think he really gets to stand on his own, he marches to the beat of his own drum and he does exactly what he wants to do which is a really nice dynamic to play within the Slow Horses because you know in a way they’re all really trying to come together to solve this kidnapping of Hassan and bring it to a resolve. Which Roddy really just wants to get home listening to his music and editing his dating profile.
How have you felt about the direction the character has gone this season and where would you like to take it in the future?
I think it would’ve been really easy for me to have painted Roddy with a really rash and abrasive paint stroke. I think what was really great about working with James Hawes is that he’d find the light and shade between the times where Roddy is abrasive and times where he’s actually helpful to the group and justifying that for myself on why is he putting this information over and it always kind of came down to him proving himself. like he is this hotshot which he is. You know in terms of growth, there’s so many ways that I would like to see him go and the way he’s written in the book he really does start to come into his own and he really starts to take a bit more central focus. So if you want to find out more about him Mick’s written an incredible series of books and hopefully at some point if all goes well then there will be more seasons ahead.
Talking about you now, What would be your dream franchise to join or a character you would love to play?
My favorite franchise? I mean, I think the go to that everyone wants to go to would be a Marvel franchise. Who wouldn’t want to be a Marvel hero? Yeah, I think that would be lovely and also I mean its only keeping in the tone it would be awesome to be in a bond film. To be in a really long form spy movie like that, i grew up watching Pierce Brosnan as James Bond and their some of my favorite films that I always go back to.
I would love to see you ask the next Bond.
Haha, i would love to see me as the next Bond too.
You talked about Marvel superheroes so is there any specific character you would like to play?
Keeping it in my wheelhouse, I’d love to be involved if there was a Shang-Chi 2. I think Simu did such an incredible job playing Shang-Chi. I had always wanted to be an X-Men, I think Cyclops is my favorite.
That’s coming up so you never know
Yeah, you never know.
What are some things you love about Roddy?
I think the things that I love about playing Roddy is that he stands on his own ceremony and he does exactly what’s in his head. I don’t think there’s any- he doesn’t try to hide what he’s feeling, he doesn’t try and mince his words. He’s very matter of fact and he just says it how he sees it. Sometimes to his own detriment. I don’t think there is anything I don’t like about him and if there is I try not to see that cause then it’s very hard to be that character when you have judgment on how they’re presenting.
Any little tidbits you can give us on the next episode?
It’s streaming on Apple TV+ you should definitely tune in to watch it and there might be a little surprise at the end of it.
Any tease for a Season 2?
There will be a Season 2 coming out some point at the end of the year.
That’s all from me, Thankyou for the chat Christopher!
Thankyou!
Christopher was extremely humble and it was great having a chat with him. A big thankyou to Apple TV+, the DDA group and especially Christopher.
Also Read: Our latest exclusive for Marvel’s upcoming ‘Secret Invasion’ series.
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