She plays a no-nonsense intelligence chief whose haughty disdain for maverick Jackson Lamb is beloved by fans of the hit TV spy drama Slow Horses.
Five-time Bafta nominee Dame Kristin Scott Thomas, who plays MI5’s chilly Diana Taverner, has tolerated obnoxious Lamb, played by Gary Oldman, for all five series of the Apple TV show.
But sources on set fear that Dame Kristin, 65, who has completed filming of the sixth series, could hang up her deputy director general’s lanyard when she finishes filming the seventh, which is currently in preparation.
Her colleagues have told The Mail on Sunday they have detected signals from the star that lead them to believe she may want out from her role as the scheming foil to Lamb and his team of dysfunctional operatives in Slough House.
One said: ‘Dame Kristin doesn’t seem herself this time around. It’s quite sad to see. She doesn’t seem as enthusiastic as in the past.
‘There is now talk on set that she might soon decide that enough is enough. It’s the seventh series – that is a lot of filming. While there is no question that she is an utter pro, and that Slow Horses is a genius production, sometimes you can have too much of a good thing.
‘Dame Kristin is used to doing a project and moving on to the next. Slow Horses is definitely not that.’
There have also been reports that she has been arriving on set later than others. One source added: ‘She comes across a little bit miserably these days.’
Dame Kristin Scott Thomas could hang up her deputy director general’s lanyard when she finishes filming the seventh series of Slow Horses
Five-time Bafta nominee Dame Kristin Scott Thomas is yet to confrm if she will continue starring in her role
An eighth series of Slow Horses is yet to be announced, but filming is expected to start later next year. There has been no confirmation whether Dame Kristin will continue in her starring role.
When approached for comment on Dame Kristin’s plans, her agent didn’t respond. But the actress has been candid in the past about how she didn’t want to star in long-running television productions.
Until a decade ago, Dame Kristin, who won the Bafta in the 1994 romantic comedy movie Four Weddings And A Funeral, had no interest in working on television series – hinting she may prefer shorter projects.
‘It just goes on and on,’ she said in an interview last year. ‘I get terribly bored. Series bore me.’
Slow Horses executive producer Will Smith said last year that Oldman certainly had no plans to quit. He said: ‘I know that Gary Oldman has expressed a desire to play Lamb for ever.’
