What’s the Secret Behind the ‘Slow Horses’ Release Schedule?

Did you know that the average wait between new seasons of Bridgerton is two years? Famously, it took three years for Severance. If that feels like a lot, I would like you to turn your attention towards Stranger Things, which will have taken nearly ten years to air five seasons of television. To put it into perspective, remember precocious Erica Sinclair (played by Priah Ferguson)? She just finished high school.

Congratulations to Priah Ferguson, aka Erica Sinclair from “Stranger Things”, for graduating from high school! 🎓🎉 pic.twitter.com/R4RcG7hjwF

— MEFeater Magazine (@mefeater) May 27, 2025

Yeah, I was shocked, too.

Waiting longer between seasons that average roughly ten episodes each—for those tempted to bring up Stranger Things’ movie-length episodes, I would remind you that, once upon a time, network tv typically aired over twenty episodes … annually—has become a begrudgingly accepted part of life. So faced with this new normal, I’ve got one pertinent question:

How the hell is Slow Horses punching seasons out with this sort of regularity?

It seems like I can’t go six months without hearing about a new season of Slow Horses being released, a fact I just assumed was the natural result of my job. Not quite. Since the Apple TV+ spy drama began streaming back in April of 2022, they’ve released four seasons, with the fifth slated to premiere in September. That’s five seasons of tv in just over three years. On top of that, according to Deadline, season six is already in the can and, astoundingly, season seven will also begin filming in early fall. This fall.

What’s the secret sauce? How’s a drama with an assortment of cast members sporting the likes of Gary Oldman, Kristin Scott Thomas as regular cast members—British acting greats like Jonathan Pryce and Sophie Okonedo also appear, along with British-Australian Hugo Weaving—that shoots on location and has to deal with stunt logistics manage to punch out a season once every seven or so months on average?

Does creator/writer Will Smith (not to be confused with our American actor/rapper) simply not sleep? Is the cast and crew in possession of a time machine? What’s their secret? And more importantly, do they mind sharing it with their other tv counterparts, because I’d sincerely love to not go through several yearly calendars before it’s finally time to watch some Regency era horniness or see some Midwest kids-now-adults fight interdimensional monsters. Count yourself blessed, Slow Horses fans, for you’ll never know the pain of having to quickly fit in a previous season rewatch to refresh your memory before the next season drop.

At least The Pitt started filming their second season, thank goodness.

Season five of Slow Horses will premiere on Apple TV+ on September 24th.

Kaleena Rivera is the TV Editor for Pajiba.