“Who the fuck are these people?”
That’s the question that Slow Horses fans asked after laying eyes on Kyle Soller and MyAnna Buring’s menacing, mysterious assassins, Jim and Jane, in Season 6. But it’s also the question the actors worked with writer Gaby Chiappe and director Adam Randall to answer, consulting Mick Herron’s text for guidance and crafting their own compelling backstories.
“Everyone was really up for not making them two-dimensional Terminator Russian assassins, and MyAnna and I loved that,” Soller told DECIDER over Zoom. “We like to get into weird territories with characters, and I think we certainly made them weird. We came up with a whole bunch of backstory stuff, but fundamentally at the core of it, they’re real people… because I think it’s more interesting to play a character who is a normal person — who happens to be doing a very fucked up job, but who has normal person feelings at the same time.”
Slow Horses Season 6, Episode 5 spoilers ahead.
At the end of Episode 2, Jim and Jane took a moment to acknowledge how easy it was to check names off of their hit list. But things got a whole lot harder when they targeted River (Jack Lowden), Sid (Olivia Cooke), and Coe (Tom Brooke). After a brutal bathroom fight, Jim unfortunately killed Slough House’s beloved weirdo, Coe, in Episode 4. But after a car crash and intense physical fights in the woods, River and Sid drowned Jim in a lake in Episode 5, marking a bittersweet end to Soller’s time on the show.
“At this point of the story, it’s all really scrappy, everybody has been up for days, and Jim’s just been in this horrible car accident. So you see this quite primal release from everybody,” he told DECIDER. “The stunt coordinators are really incredible on Slow Horses. I mean, they just have a knack for making it psychological and truthful, and being very real at the same time.”
Read on to hear more about Soller’s Slow Horses experience, from character development and creative choices to constructing his big fight scenes with Brooke, Lowden, and Cooke.
DECIDER: You play Jim, this Russian assassin who’s menacingly moving through the world with his partner, Jane. What was it like crafting that unique dynamic with MyAnna Buring?
KYLE SOLLER: It was pretty wild trying to come up with these characters. Of course we went back to what Mick Herron had written, and then what Gaby Chiappe was trying to establish with [director] Adam Randall as well. There were all these chats through the audition process about, “Who the fuck are these people?” Everyone was really up for not making them two-dimensional Terminator Russian assassins, and MyAnna and I loved that.
I think that’s how we work. We like to get into weird territories with characters, and I think we certainly made them weird. We came up with a whole bunch of backstory stuff, but fundamentally at the core of it, they’re real people. Something we held on to was this connection that, because of their professionalism and their job and how under lock and key they are by the Russians, they couldn’t let the other know. But it’s just busting through the surface for each other. We thought that was something that could be cool to thread through, and we experimented with different ways of doing that while shooting, some non-verbally, some verbally. Then Adam came up with his cut.
We see some lighter moments between them in the car. And a scene that stuck with me is when they’re trying to kill Moira, and Jim takes the time to sit with her on the couch, and puts the TV on, and grabs her hand, and has what feels like a human experience that made me think he might want out.
Exactly. That’s something Adam and I spoke about: Who is totally up for this and who is looking for an out? I got to have fun with Jim, just loving being in the UK and experiencing the kind of wonder of a hardware store off the North Circular. He really gets into the whole dressing up and the process of it all. But he is kind of looking for an out, whereas MyAnna is much more by the book and in it for the long haul, so that creates tension between us… It was really fun, because I think it’s more interesting to play a character who is a normal person, who happens to be doing a very fucked up job, who has normal person feelings at the same time. It just makes it a bit weirder and more difficult to rectify what he’s doing to people, while also being in love with his partner. So he does have a heart, but he shuts it off for his job.
Episode 4 is one of my favorite TV episodes of the year, but I’m absolutely gutted that you killed our beloved little weirdo, Coe. Tell me everything about that bathroom fight scene with Tom Brooke.
Tom and I are friends, and I’ve wanted to work with him for a very long time, so it was awesome. We were working together, trying to come up with the scene right before the fight. Going back to the text of the book, talking with Gaby, trying to figure out something that was a bit weird, but where the gloves are actually off, and there are these two people that just meet each other. So Tom wrote that scene, it got edited by Gaby, and we worked it out with Adam. Then the fight sequence itself was so cool to work on, because it’s such an enclosed space, and you get to see two people having to do something they might not really want to do at the time. They have this kind of appreciation for each other, like Jim singles out the push knife that Coe has and is kind of like, “That’s really fucking cool, man. Nice. Cool badge.”
You also see what Coe is made of again. We’ve seen that at points throughout the series. He’s hands down my favorite character. He’s so unpredictable. But it was intense. That was a really fun, intense scene to shoot. Everybody was brilliant. It was very sad to see him go, but he got his hits in for sure.
You also have these incredible fight scenes with Jack Lowden and Olivia Cooke in Episode 5. Can you talk me through those scenes in the water and what the atmosphere was like on set?
The atmosphere was fucking cold. [Laughs] It was pretty cold, but it was a beautiful setting. The stunt coordinators are really incredible on Slow Horses. I mean, they just have a knack for making it psychological and truthful, and being very real at the same time. So at this point of the story, it’s all really scrappy, everybody has been up for days, and Jim’s just been in this horrible car accident. So you see this quite primal release from everybody. Working it through pre-shooting, there were a lot of stunt rehearsals trying to figure out exactly the right tone. You’ve got to get that right — who’s got the upper hand when, who comes in to save who, and all those politics. But I think the way it’s constructed itself is great, because it’s this kind of horror film chase through the woods; then you think Olivia’s all right, then she gets dragged to the lake. And Jim has this release of like, “I’ve finally done it, mission completed.” And he sees these swans across and is kind of thinking…
Oh, the swans! I loved Olivia looking out at that white swan when she’s alone, and then when Jim’s drowning her, there are black swans in the background.
Yeah, exactly. That was a beautiful happenstance. I was looking at those swans, and Adam’s like, “This is perfect. Yeah. Let’s get that.”
That’s incredible. I have to ask, as someone who has officially fought and been on-screen killed by Jack Lowden, what are your thoughts on him as a contender for James Bond?
It’d be very cool. I have absolutely no idea, but It’d be very cool, I think. He’s awesome, and he’s so good at what he does in Slow Horses. Why shouldn’t he make the bump up to a double 0?
Your famous flopping on the bed scene in Andor was deliciously unscripted, so was there anything you added on Slow Horses — either to a scene or the character — to make it your own?
God, yeah. There was something that Tom and I added. What was it? I will say, the HODs were amazing at trying to figure out how to craft these characters, make them really three-dimensional, and have MyAnna’s and my input. We were totally involved in costume, hair design, and stuff, so I selected the costumes according to how I thought he should look, as a Cotswoldy banker on the weekends. [Laughs]
Very quickly, before we wrap, is there anything else you want to share about your time on the show or a favorite scene? I’m personally obsessed with that whole bowling alley sequence. So dreamy.
I had a great time playing air hockey during that whole filming. That was such a cool set. It was up near Enfield or something, I think. Just a complete retro bowling alley. It was like a dream. The lighting was amazing. I don’t think they had to do much. It was very transportive, and that’s how I felt about the show, which I enjoyed watching so much. You think, “Oh, what’s it going to be like on set?” And you’re just totally transported into that world, which I think Adam, the producers, and the HODs have crafted super well.
This interview was edited for length and clarity.
New episodes of Slow Horses Season 6 premiere Wednesdays on Apple TV.