Will Smith leaving Slow Horses after season 5; why?
After the arrival of Slow Horses season 5 on Apple TV+ later this fall, there is a big change coming behind the scenes. Will Smith, who has served as the writer / showrunner (though the latter term does not really exist in the UK) for the hit series from the beginning, is departing the show.
According to a report from Deadline, Gaby Chiappe is in charge of season 6; meanwhile, Ben Vanstone has taken on the job for the already-renewed season 7. It is nice to know that a plan is in place, but that doesn’t change the fact that there are a lot of concerns about the future since Smith gave it such a unique style and tone.
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In a new interview with the aforementioned publication, Smith did offer up more context as to why he is departing at this point:
“I think it’s a big show and it’s an intense process … And I suppose I didn’t want to lose the sense of fun of it. There’s two things. One, there’s the risk that you’ll start to run dry or repeat, which you have to watch. And so, it’s just getting ahead of that, and knowing when the right time is for you to give it over to somebody who can give it some new energy and freshness. And then it’s likely that the schedule of it just becomes something that can be slightly daunting after a while. It feels like I might not be giving you my best work if I continue at this pace… I do want to emphasize, it’s not in any way that I thought I’m now too good for Slow Horses. It’s much more that I want to keep being good enough for Slow Horses. And I would never want it to be like, “Oh, that one wasn’t quite there.” It’s just that risk of just pushing it too far. And I just felt, I just want to go when I know I’m still delivering my very, very best for all the people that work on the show.”
It is worth noting that Smith was often working on multiple seasons at the same time. Even though each one is only six episodes, they tend to film at a pretty rapid pace and there are not many opportunities for breaks.
Related – Be sure to get some more news right now on Slow Horses and what the future holds
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