With the Season 6 finale looming, Slow Horses just delivered its most visceral gut-punch yet. Episode 5, "Sayonara," opens with a brutal twist that reshapes the entire season's power dynamics, and star Kyle Soller is opening up about the chilling sequence that sealed his character's fate.
In an exclusive chat, Soller dissected the moment Jim meets his end—a scene he describes as feeling less like a spy thriller and more like a descent into horror movie territory. The confrontation with River Cartwright (Jack Lowden) and Sid Baker (Olivia Cooke) is raw, unforgiving, and shot with a coldness that lingers long after the credits roll.
Building a Bond Beyond Bullets
Soller and co-star MyAnna Buring (Jane) worked hard to give their assassins a lived-in dynamic, moving beyond the typical "Terminator" archetype. "We wanted something more three-dimensional than what's in the book," Soller explained. "There's this unspoken, almost teenage 'I'm kind of into you' vibe, but also a contrasting devotion to the mission." Jim, he notes, found a potential escape in Jane, while Jane remained hard-lined to the end—a tension that made their partnership feel tragically human.
That humanity extended to Jim's brutal bathroom brawl with Coe (Tom Brooke) in Episode 4. Soller and Brooke went back to Mick Herron's source material to craft a scene that was less about action and more about two men resigned to their fate. "We wanted that naked, 'we're on the train track and not getting off' feeling," Soller said. The result was a fight that carried a tragic weight, with Jim's respect for Coe—"Is that a push knife?"—adding a layer of sorrow to the inevitable.
A Death That Feels Like a Horror Film
But it's Episode 5's opening that truly shook fans. Jim's death isn't just a plot point; it's a visceral, terrifying sequence that Soller likens to being in a slasher flick. "You're in a horror film," he said, describing the relentless pursuit and the cold, practical brutality of it all. The scene underscores how far the show is willing to go, and it sets the stage for a finale where no one is safe.
As Slough House's misfits hunker down at Diana Taverner's vacation home and Jackson Lamb closes in on Damien Cantor, the pieces are in place for a showdown that promises to be as emotionally devastating as it is explosive. For Soller, though, the experience was about finding the tragedy in the monster—and leaving a mark that fans won't soon forget.
With only one episode left, Slow Horses has proven it can still surprise, and Jim's exit is a testament to the show's willingness to take risks. As Soller put it, "Somebody will come kill me if I don't kill you right now"—and in the world of Slough House, that's just another Tuesday.
