Slow Horses' Hugo Weaving teases "ruthless" villain: "He’s not without charm"
Weaving plays new character Frank Harkness in season 4 of the Apple TV+ spy series.
Each season of Slow Horses focuses on a new case and introduces new characters, and that's certainly the case this time around as we head into season 4.
Not only will this season introduce new members of Slough House, such as Tom Brooke's JK Coe and Moira Tregorian, but it will also see the introduction of Frank Harkness, as played by Lord of the Rings and The Matrix star Hugo Weaving.
Weaving spoke with RadioTimes.com and other press about Frank, and revealed that he is "in one way", a "classic villain".
However, he added: "But I don't ever think of people in that way. Some characters I’ve played are absolute classic villains, but Frank's a human being. He's very grey. Should we say he's dark grey, he's slate grey? He's not white, he's not black, but he's slate grey, I think."
He continued: "He's a piece of work. He's highly trained, highly evolved in one way in his thinking, but he's a renegade, he's out there, and he is completely unsentimental.
"He's ruthless, but he's not without charm. And I'd say in this season, we see quite a lot of urbanity. He's quite an urbane character, but you feel that he's got a lethality, a physicality and a lethality to him as well.
"His potential threat is always there. So he’s a significant threat, I think. He reveals the threat, but he doesn't play his hand, he conceals his hand a lot. And he's a slow burn, the character’s a very slow burn throughout this particular season. But if you know the books, you know that Frank's got a bit of a life beyond this book."
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Season 4 picks up with the Slough House team a member down, after Saskia Reeves's character Catherine Standish resigned at the end of season 3. However, Reeves has revealed that walk-out might not be particularly long lasting.
She said: "Her plans don't quite go in the direction that she thought they might, or her impact of walking out didn't quite have the weight that she thought it might.
"I think there's a detail where Lamb won’t sign the resignation papers. Nothing happens with these people clearly and definitely, it always goes a little bit grey and wishy washy. So this decision to leave suddenly becomes all sort of murky, and it's not quite happening the way she was imagining it. That's all I could say at this point."
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Slow Horses season 4 will stream on Apple TV+ from Wednesday 4th September – sign up to Apple TV+ now.
Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Authors
James Hibbs is a Drama Writer for Radio Times, covering programmes across both streaming platforms and linear channels. He previously worked in PR, first for a B2B agency and subsequently for international TV production company Fremantle. He possesses a BA in English and Theatre Studies and an NCTJ Level 5 Diploma in Journalism.
