'Slow Horses' Star Officially Joins Apple TV's Upcoming 'Outlander' Replacement

After the complete dominance of Ted Lasso‘s fourth season on the streaming charts, it was going to take something special to steal its crown. Stumble in Head of Slough House, Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman), and the sixth season of Apple TV’s hit spy thriller Slow Horses. The finale of the sixth season, “Judgment Day,” was so popular it defeated Ted Lasso and left fans with their jaws on the floor, desperate for the confirmed seventh and eighth seasons to arrive.

Slow Horses is one of the most important shows on Apple TV, and its influence can be felt across the streamer’s catalog. That now includes an exciting upcoming horror project that has just added one of Slow Horses‘ best stars to its growing cast. Earlier this week, it was announced that the brilliant Bill Nighy had been added to the cast of Ascension, an upcoming horror project from four-time Academy Award winner Alfonso Cuarón. This came following Nighy’s recent casting in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Season 2.

Inspired by the novel Last Days by Adam Nevill, Ascension is led by Outlander star Caitríona Balfe, who will portray Rose, described in the synopsis as “a relentless documentary filmmaker and recently divorced mother, brilliant at uncovering others’ truths but struggling to resolve her own.” The synopsis continues, “When Rose begins a project on a mysterious 20th-century cult known as the Church of Ascension, she finds unexpected refuge in its teachings – until she discovers something far more insidious beneath.”

Your answers point to the iconic universe your values, your instincts, and your particular way of seeing the world were built for. This is where you would find your people — and your purpose.

You believe in the cause — in the idea that freedom is worth fighting for even when the odds are impossible and the empire is vast.

• You are drawn to the moral clarity of a universe where hope itself is a form of resistance.
• You’d find your people in the Rebellion — a ragtag coalition of true believers held together by conviction more than resources.
• Star Wars is fundamentally a story about ordinary people choosing to matter in an extraordinary conflict — and that is exactly your kind of story.
• The Force may or may not be with you. But the will to use it for something larger than yourself certainly is.

You understand, in the deepest part of yourself, that the journey matters as much as the destination — and that the world’s beauty is worth protecting even at great cost.

• Middle-earth is a world of ancient wonder, deep friendship, and a darkness that only retreats when enough small acts of courage accumulate.
• You would thrive here because you value the fellowship more than the glory — the road more than the arrival.
• Tolkien’s universe rewards patience, loyalty, and the willingness to carry something heavy across a very long distance.
• Those are not burdens to you. They are simply how you move through the world.

You believe that love, loyalty, and doing what’s right are not naive sentiments — they are the most powerful forces in any world, magical or otherwise.

• The Wizarding World is a place of wonder hidden in plain sight, where learning is transformative and the bonds you form at school follow you into every battle.
• You would flourish here because you take both the magic and the friendships seriously — and you understand that one without the other is incomplete.
• Harry Potter’s universe ultimately rewards those who choose to stand for something even when standing is terrifying.
• That choice — made quietly, without guarantee — is something you understand completely.

You see the world clearly — its power structures, its hypocrisies, its brutal arithmetic — and you are not paralysed by that clarity. You use it.

• Westeros is a world that rewards intelligence, adaptability, and the willingness to understand that every alliance is also a negotiation.
• You would survive here — possibly thrive here — because you don’t confuse the world as it is with the world as you’d like it to be.
• Game of Thrones is a story about what happens when the idealists and the realists collide. You are sharp enough to know which one lasts longer.
• Winter always comes. You are already prepared.

You believe the future is worth building — that curiosity, cooperation, and the expansion of understanding are not just ideals but the most practical path forward for any civilisation.

• Star Trek is a universe where the questions matter as much as the answers, and where encountering something utterly alien is cause for wonder rather than fear.
• You would belong here because you are fundamentally optimistic about what intelligence and decency can achieve — while being honest about how hard that achievement is.
• The Federation is the universe’s most ambitious thought experiment: what if we actually got better?
• You don’t just hope that’s possible. You think it’s the only thing worth working toward.

A ‘Slow Horses’ Star Has Joined Ascension

• Image via Apple TV

• Image via Apple TV

• Image via Apple TV

• Image via Apple TV

• Image via Apple TV+

• Image via Apple TV

• Image via Apple TV

• Image via Apple TV

• Image via Apple TV

• Image via Apple TV+

So which Slow Horses star will join Apple TV’s shiny new horror adaptation? Christopher Chung, known for playing the arrogant computer nerd Roddy Ho in the spy series, has been added to the cast of Ascension. Run‘s Amanda Plummer and T’Nia Miller of The Haunting of Bly Manor and VisionQuest fame will join Chung in the cast. Cuarón, his brother Carlos, Natalie Erika James, and Christian White will co-write and executive produce the series, with star Balfe also executive producing. Apple TV’s 2026 horror series Widow’s Bay recently picked up 14 wins from a total of 19 nominations at this year’s Primetime Emmys.

Christopher Chung will feature in Apple TV’s Ascension​​​​​​. For more updates, make sure to stay tuned to Collider.

Slow Horses