Kristin Scott Thomas was never a TV show fan until Slow Horses happened - thanks to "excellent writing [and] fascinating characters”

Before Slow Horses came out, Kristin Scott Thomas didn't really enjoy watching television. That was not too long ago. With a decades-long career that featured some of the most highly regarded films in cinema history, from The English Patient to Gosford Park, she avoided the small screen.

With an industry increasingly shifting toward prestige television, she was not convinced — until Slow Horses came along.

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, the British actress who has won awards reflected on what changed her perception: the chance to be part of Slow Horses, the darkly comic, slow-burning spy thriller based on Mick Herron's best-selling Slough House novels. She said,

"excellent writing [and] fascinating characters” of the first episode. “I started to think ‘Well, maybe.’ But, I hadn’t figured on ‘Well, four years later, here we are.’"

She added,

"I had only read the pilot and I thought maybe [Diana] died quite quickly or got fired.”

Abruptly, the long-form narrative of television no longer appeared so foreign. It became the backdrop for one of her most captivating characters to date.

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When cinema's darling found episodic drama

At that time, Thomas was recognized almost solely for her high-brow film work. Theatres and film festivals were her stomping ground, not streaming services. As per Los Angeles time, she told the Guardian that,

“I get terribly bored. Series bore me.”

This was not because she had any distaste for it but because there were few shows that shared the kind of narrative architecture she enjoyed. So it's all the more ironic that her classic small-screen role would come from a genre series: a spy thriller with gray London skies, internal politics, and jaded intelligence agents.

And Slow Horses was anything but formulaic. When Apple TV+ started putting the wheels in motion for the adaptation of Herron's books, the show drew a roster of heavy hitters straight off, with Gary Oldman, Jack Lowden, and eventually Kristin Scott Thomas signing up. What set it apart? From her perspective, it was the literary integrity of the work. According to the Los Angeles Times, she said,

"I’m watching it as if I weren’t in it. The plots are so complicated and have so many twists and turns, I get completely lost. ‘Oh right, I forgot that happens.’ It is thrilling to watch and really enjoy it — like, ‘this is really good."

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Along comes Diana Taverner: Power, strategy, and sharp edges

Thomas portrays Diana Taverner, a tough, older MI5 official who appears to be as polished as she is ruthless. The character, who exists frequently in the gray area between patriotism and political gamesmanship, was a stroke of greatness for the show.

But what attracted Thomas to the role wasn't merely power play — it was nuance. Taverner is not merely a bureaucrat; she's a strategist, typically a move ahead of her fellow players in a system that's morally compromised.

As per the Los Angeles Times, she said,

"She is much better at it than anyone else and she should have the job. The reason she doesn’t is because she’s older, she’s a woman, and no one ever listens to older women. So I’m flying the flag of older women. Come on, we have experience. Listen to us.”

The script didn't tell them everything — it left space for silence, tension, and uncertainty. And for an actor accustomed to the subtlety of stage and screen scripts, that was not common to discover in episodic television.

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The Slow Horses formula: More than just spies and secrets

So why does Slow Horses ring true beyond the usual spy thriller? The series depicts espionage through a distinctly British perspective — one defined not by action but by disillusionment, drudgery, and dry wit. Thomas understood that this was not another cloak-and-dagger drama.

Rather, it was a story about imperfect people pushed to the periphery of MI5 — the so-called "slow horses" of Slough House — and how they struggled to stay relevant in a world that had abandoned them.

The character dynamics are multifaceted, and Thomas's Diana Taverner plays the role of a bridge between competence and chaos. Her verbal and ideological sparring sessions with Gary Oldman's Jackson Lamb formed the focal point of the tone of the series. The series format provided each character room to breathe.

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A look behind the scenes: Writing that changed minds

The creative minds behind Slow Horses did much to turn Thomas into a convert. The scripts, translated with attention and detail, did not leave room for genre conventions.

Rather than making do with explosions and chases, the series used political clout, personal grudges, and the slow disintegration of secrets. Thomas observed that the writing granted actors license to explore their characters in rich, inner means — something rarely given within procedural drama.

By the conclusion of the first season, Thomas had already signed on to do more episodes. Television, which had been a diversion at first, had now become a new phase in her life.

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A career redefined — and reinvented

In retrospect, Slow Horses not only transformed Thomas's view of television but also remade her public persona. Viewers who recognized her mostly through her dignified film performances glimpsed another side.

Here was an actress commanding and calculating, maneuvering within the institutional gray areas. Though she stayed loyal to her theatrical and cinematic foundation, Thomas was now a fixture in one of television's highest-rated dramas.

That transition also tracked an industry-wide trend: film actors embracing television as a medium of creative experimentation.

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As Slow Horses Marches On…

Now four seasons in, Slow Horses is just getting moving, and Diana Taverner is still at the center of its espionage and manipulation web. Though Thomas hasn't said how long she's staying with the show, her work has left a lasting memory.

The creators of the show have taken pains to maintain the moral gray area that makes characters such as Taverner so fascinating, never turning her into a hero or a true bad guy.

Her exchanges with Oldman are a highlight, dry-witted jabs, institutional resentment, and begrudging accommodation. And as new plot threads are introduced, even as they get more out there, even those original relationships hold the ground story together. Thomas herself may never have been a fan of serialized drama, but now she's one of its most essential contributors.

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Kristin Scott Thomas's journey to Slow Horses is a reminder that even veteran actresses can be caught out by their medium. What was initially a grudging sidestep into TV became one of the highlights of her career. She didn't alter her expectations — the format was altered to accommodate her.

For many years, the gap between film and television was clearly defined. But as Thomas's case proves, the border now is much more indistinct, and occasionally crossing it brings just the sort of artistic satisfaction no one anticipates. Least of all someone who, for years, simply wasn't a TV fan. Until Slow Horses came along.

Also read: Slow Horses showrunner drops exciting details about Season 5 of the Apple TV+ series