Note: This story contains spoilers from Season 5, Episode 3 of “Slow Horses.”
If you want to know what the inside of Roddy Ho’s head looks like, actor Christopher Chung says you need look no further than a scene near the beginning of “Slow Horses” Season 5, Episode 3, titled “Tall Tales.”
As Chung’s Roddy awaits the arrival of his interrogator, MI5 veteran Diana Taverner (Kristin Scott Thomas), he passes the time by bending over, shadowboxing, and literally scaling the walls of his underground detention room. “No prison was built to hold me,” Roddy tells his invisible, silent observers at MI5. “The only prison I fear is that of the mind, and I escaped from that years ago. I am mythical, historical and futuristic.”
It’s ridiculous. It’s also, according to Chung, just a taste of what Roddy’s inner monologue is really like. “The problem with the novels is that the character of Roddy, in particular, is written almost entirely as an internal monologue,” Chung told TheWrap. “It’s so important to the character that he has this narrative in his head, which I get for free because I can read the books. I don’t have to make it up, which is great, because it really informs how he sees and experiences the world, and how he constructs his own world in his head and justifies everything.”
“I mean, it’s completely pompous, his inner monologue,” Chung noted with a laugh, pointing specifically to his standout scene in “Tall Tales.” “It’s a good mirror of what’s going on in his head every day. He’s gotten into such fervor in this little holding cell that it’s starting to overflow.”
While Chung has been an important member of the “Slow Horses” cast since the beginning, the fifth season of the Apple TV+ thriller gives his character the biggest spotlight yet. For Chung, the season has been a long time coming.
“When I was cast in the role, I looked through the books to see what the plots were. I wanted to see if there was an important role for Roddy in one of the novels, and it was ‘London Rules,'” Chung says, referring to the fifth installment of author Mick Herron’s “Slough House” book series. “As the show gained traction and awareness over the seasons, knowing that Season 5 was coming – that we would be filming it and it would be released to the world – was pretty anxiety-inducing.”
“There’s a lot of pressure and expectations now that weren’t there before. When I first read ‘London Rules,’ I was like, ‘Oh, this is exciting.’ I’m going to be able to do this stuff.’ Now it’s like, ‘Oh, no. People really like this show. I must be really great,'” Chung explained.
Below, Chung talks exploring his on-screen character’s “gaudy” apartment for the first time, Roddy’s hilarious relationship with Slough House frontman Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman), and his excitement to finally go one-on-one with Kristin Scott Thomas.
TheWrap: Where did the giant, glowing sword that Roddy wields in episode 2 come from?
Chung: The sword, I believe, was [“Slow Horses” creator] Will Smith’s idea, because it comes from the script. Reading it in the script, I didn’t even imagine that or that it would hang on the wall like that, not to mention flashing LEDs in the handle, which was just another shiny touch on something that’s already completely extra.
We always discuss either hair or makeup or set design, if there are things that concern my office or my home. But they took me to my apartment and showed me around, and my mouth was on the floor because I had never seen anything so garish – in a good way for Ho – that was so detailed.
Did you help design Roddy’s apartment?
Chung: There are so many things in this apartment, and it’s a shame we can’t explore them more. [on the show]. If you saw it on my Instagram, I did a little tour of it, so you can see a little more detail.
They always ask my opinion on things, but I walked into this apartment and pretty much everything I thought Roddy would do. [have] in her living space, I was already there so I could play, right down to the dresser. There were clothes in there! There doesn’t have to be any clothes in there, but they were there if I needed them, and they’re all specific clothes, you know? It’s an absolute gift as an actor to be able to step onto the set of something like this.
This week’s episode gave you the opportunity to face Kristin for the first time. Was it really exciting?
Chung: Working with Kristin was something that, because I had read the novel, I was really hoping would live up to my expectations, and it did not disappoint. She’s so fun and so experienced too. You know, she’s as accomplished as Gary in many ways, but her acting style is very different.
She’s as grounded as Taverner, but she lightens it up in her scenes with Roddy because she’s trying to reach him. Getting to deliver some of those awesome lines that Will wrote with Kristin was such a joy. She has this glint in her eyes, which is so cheeky, when you know she wants to laugh. But she’s just too professional and too hands-on not to. [break]. It’s incredible.
This season also gave Roddy some of his biggest scenes with Jackson since their misadventures together in Season 3.
Chung: These moments from Season 3 remain some of my favorite scenes, as it was the first time at that point that I worked closely with Gary. We were able to develop that relationship and rapport and language between us as actors over the course of that season, and then bring it into Season 5 very easily. It was just a game every day on set with him, as it is all the time. He is such a wonderful man and so generous with his ideas. We had a great time doing these scenes [in Episode 2]. We laughed a lot, and he also has the most contagious laugh.
How do you think Roddy views Jackson? He’s arrogant and disrespectful, but he also does what Jackson says when it counts (for the most part).
Chung: I think he sees him as an equal. [Laughs] We hear in the elevator when they come down from the restaurant to [Episode 2]Roddy says, “You and I have always had mutual respect, but that’s my opinion as an agent.” So he is truly deluding himself into thinking that he is Jackson’s right-hand man and that they hold the same status within the office.
Whose idea was Roddy to shout “I am death!” » against his attacker in episode 2?
Chung: Before, it was a different line. I don’t remember what it was. I think it was an overflow from another scene. There was one iteration where I shouted, “I am war!” “, because in season three, when I was driving the bus through the house, I was screaming [at the time]“I am the war”, which was not accepted. So we were going to try to remember that. But I believe “I Am Death” was Will Smith.
We learn in “Tall Tales” that Roddy showed Tara (Hiba Bennani) how to hack the MI5 database. In light of this revelation, do you think there’s a part of him that’s starting to wonder if he was deceived by her?
Chung: No. [Smirks] Not even close.
“Slow Horses” Season 5 releases new episodes Wednesday on Apple TV+.
