Christopher Chung still works as a personal trainer at Fred’s Gym in the Hampstead neighborhood of London. He’s loyal to a handful of clients. But sitting with him at the Horseshoe, a pub next door to the gym, one can’t shake the sense that his life is about to change in ways that could make those sweaty sessions a distant memory.
Chung plays Roddy Ho, the arrogant, clueless, borderline sociopathic computer expert in the hit series “Slow Horses.” The fifth season, which begins Wednesday on Apple TV+, is when Ho gets his close-up in a story line whose fiendish plot twists are best left unspoiled for devotees of this much-loved British spy series.
For Chung, 37, it’s a heady moment in a slow-burn career that has taken him from his native Australia to New York, and London, where he worked in musical theater and on the BBC series “Waterloo Road” before being cast in “Slow Horses” in 2020.
But taking center-stage in an ensemble cast that features Gary Oldman as the cunning, slovenly, flatulent intelligence officer Jackson Lamb is a tall order. It’s even more daunting in a series that has managed to keep its pulse-pounding drama and off-kilter charm through so many seasons, chronicling a group of misfits who’ve been cast to the fringes of MI5, Britain’s domestic counterterrorism and security agency.
“This is the moment where shows can falter and be like, ‘Yeah, it’s just not as good as it was,’ or ‘They tried something here and it just didn’t land,’” Chung said over a crab salad and sparkling water. “I always think of Ho as the seasoning in the series. A lot of him is a lot. Enough of him is just right.”
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The post He May Be a ‘Slow Horse,’ but He’s in Peak Condition appeared first on New York Times.
