Following the release of Slow Horses Season 5, program creator Will Smith has provided a somewhat disappointing update regarding one of its proposed spin-off series, based on Mick Herron’s novel, The Secret Hours. Smith, who is stepping away from the Gary Oldman-led show after its fifth installment, revealed in a recent interview that while he believes the Slow Horses franchise will definitely expand, it will do so without his involvement.

Will Smith would ‘love to see’ Slow Horses spin-off but has ‘no plans’ to do it himself

The veteran comedian and writer discussed the possibilities of adapting Mick Herron’s novel The Secret Hours as a potential spin-off of the Slow Horses show. He expressed that although he would like to see such a project come to life, he has “no plans” to oversee it.

“It’s not happening. There are no plans to do it, but I would just love to see it,” Will Smith noted while speaking to SlashFilm. He remarked that The Secret Hours is “one of my favorite books of Mick’s because it’s so inventive and surprising, and he just really challenges himself, but not in a way that feels indulgent to the reader.”

Despite his appreciation for the source material and desire for the Slow Horses spin-off to become a reality, Smith does not intend to manage the process himself. “I just want someone to make it at some point. I’m sure they will adapt all of Mick’s books and all the sidebar books and the novellas; I’m sure it will all be put on screen, so I have no doubt that at some point that will happen,” the Emmy-winning creator explained.

Created by Will Smith, Slow Horses is a British spy thriller series inspired by Mick Herron’s Slough House novel series. Meanwhile, The Secret Hours is one of three standalone novels by Herron, existing in the same universe as his Slough House books. Currently, it remains uncertain if the Secret Hours spin-off will ever come to fruition. However, Apple TV+ has already renewed its parent series, Slow Horses, for a sixth and seventh season.