Emma Flyte’s Death Explained By Head Writer

This article contains spoilers for “Slow Horses” Season 6, Episode 6, “Judgement Day.”

One of the best things about Apple TV’s “Slow Horses” is that its supporting cast members could die at any moment. While major characters like Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman), River Cartwright (Jack Lowden), and Catherine Standish (Saskia Reeves) often feel like they’re wearing plot armor, the show has been ruthless about cutting down the people who surround them. Many assumed Sid Baker was killed before she was surprisingly brought back for this season, but the losses of Min Harper and Marcus Longridge left holes in the Slow Horses team. Earlier Season 6 episodes saw the deaths of former agent Struan Loy, who we spent a bit of time with in Season 1, and far more importantly, J.K. Coe, who lost a bathroom knife fight after spending the last three seasons amid our bumbling heroes.

In the Season 6 finale, the show takes yet another character off the board: Emma Flyte (Ruth Bradley), MI5’s former head of security. Flyte has spent most of this season cooped up with the Slow Horses after clashing with Diana Taverner, but in “Judgement Day,” Flyte is gunned down by Frank Harkness on the beach in the season’s climactic firefight. I asked “Slow Horses” head writer Gaby Chiappe about this particular death, which hit her hard when she first encountered it in author Mick Herron’s novels:

“(Emma Flyte) is killed in ‘Joe Country,’ and you know this season is an amalgam of those two (books, ‘Joe Country’ and ‘Slough House’). I cried when she died in ‘Joe Country.’ When I read it for the first time, I so didn’t want that to be happening. And I remember going back and rereading it thinking maybe I’d got it wrong and she wasn’t dead, but obviously she is. And I think the deaths in this really count.”

My heart sank for Flyte as soon as I saw that long tracking shot of her sprinting down the beach. “Slow Horses” isn’t the type of show to make someone look that cool and heroic without there being a consequence, and after she takes down a mercenary and seemingly saves the day, it’s not ten seconds until Frank Harkness shoots her in the back and then brutally guns her down in the sand.

Head writer Gaby Chiappe seemed almost pained when she spoke with me about Flyte’s death scene:

“When you lose somebody like Coe or Flyte, you just wish it hadn’t happened. And especially with Flyte in this season, because she’s been sacked by Taverner who basically says, ‘You can go to Slough House,’ and she’s like, ‘That is so not happening.’ But she’s with them. She’s almost becoming a Slow Horse in a sort of way, even though she’s still super competent and she was amazing at her job. She only got sacked because she p*ssed Taverner off. So I found that death really upsetting, and I really love the way it’s done. And I really love the effect it has on Roddy Ho, as well.”

Christopher Chung’s Roddy Ho, who got the spotlight in the funnier Season 5, has openly hit on Flyte many times in his obnoxious way, but there’s nothing funny about his face when he sees her lying dead on the beach. I’m very curious to see if Flyte’s death has a long-lasting impact on his character (similar to how Shirley reeled from Marcus’s death), or if it’ll basically just be business as usual for Ho when Season 7 rolls around next year.

“Slow Horses” Season 6 is now streaming in its entirety on Apple TV.