'When a liaison with Russian villains takes a fatal turn, our hapless heroes must overcome their individual failings and raise their spy game in a race to prevent a catastrophic incident.'

Season two 'finds long-buried Cold War secrets emerge which threaten to bring carnage to the streets of London,' according to the official synopsis. Minor spoilers follow, assuming season two will follow the plot of Dead Lions. Slow Horses season 2 plot: What will happen in Slow Horses season 2?

Peaky Blinders' Aimee-Ffion Edwards and This is Going to Hurt's Kadiff Kirwan have been cast in the show, according to Variety, and those two roles would be the very obvious place for them. We're also expecting an announcement soon regarding Marcus Longridge and Shirley Dander, two new Slough House recruits in the second book. New cast members joining this season include Rade Šerbedžija as – we assume – former Russian agent Nikolai Katinsky. Unless the writers are playing very fast and loose, you've seen the last of Antonio Aakeel's Hassan and his captors – their story is done. But your other Slough House and Regents Park favourites are all present and incorrect: Olivia Cooke won't be in season two, for the reasons detailed above, unless the adaptation of Mick Herron's book Dead Lions is a lot looser than Slow Horses was. Slow Horses season 2 cast: Who's coming back for Slow Horses season 2? There is talk of more to come, because it seems it's being very well received.' 'I wasn't the director on the second six ,' Hawes also told The Wrap of what will become the second season. Hawes has also spoken about the desire to continue telling the story across multiple seasons, also telling Deadline of the 'hope and intention' that there will be 'another couple of seasons in the immediate future'. There are reviews from all over the world, and people seem to be getting the tone,' he said. 'What's astonishing is the positivity of the response, the amount that people have enjoyed and engaged with the series and also the global reach of the show.

Slow Horses boss James Hawes told Deadline of the 'relief' of experiencing such great feedback to the series, revealing that it has 'landed incredibly strongly'.

(More later on the likelihood of that happening.) With audiences responding so positively to the first season, we're hopeful that Apple will want to press on ASAP with production on the third. Hooray! Season two will land on AppleTV+ on 2 December.

Dead lions slow horses