How is Sid Baker alive in Slow Horses season 6? Olivia Cooke reveals her grim secret life

*Warning: Spoilers ahead for Slow Horses season 6 episode 2*

Slow Horses season 6 episode 2 has arrived, and it ends with the return of Sidonie “Sid” Baker. Olivia Cooke has explained what she’s been doing all those years after she was presumed dead (kind of). 

Last week’s episode of the Apple TV series kicked off with the brutal death of former Slough House member Struan Loy (Paul Higgins). 

We also found out that River’s (Jack Lowden) granddad David Cartwright (Jonathan Pryce) died off screen, culminating in a funeral scene that saw the return of River’s evil father, Frank Harkness (Hugo Weaving).

Frank appears again in Season 6 episode 2, and we find out he’s part of a larger plot targeting Slough House members. So far, the mysterious killers have only bumped off former members of the team, with Struan and Kay White both murdered in episode 1 before they turn their attention to ex office manager Moira (Joanna Scanlan).

Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman) slowly starts putting the pieces together and discovers someone has stolen the physical file containing the details of everyone who has ever worked at Slough House. Realising they’re all in danger, he tells the team to go dark and meet him at Blake’s grave.

River has another problem, though. He’s been receiving mysterious silent phone calls and, given his dad has suddenly reappeared in his life, becomes convinced Frank is behind them. He asks Roddy Ho (Christopher Chung) to trace the calls, only to discover they’re coming from David’s now-empty house.

Despite Lamb’s orders to disappear, River heads straight there, expecting to finally confront Frank. But when he walks inside, it isn’t his dad waiting for him – it’s Sid, alive and apparently well almost five years after she was shot in the head and seemingly gone for good. 

How is Sid Baker still alive in Slow Horses?

Here’s the thing: Slow Horses never actually confirmed that Sid died. In fact, the show left us a pretty massive clue at the end of season 1 that she’d survived being shot and MI5 had seemingly made her disappear.

To refresh your memory, Sid wasn’t actually at Slough House because she’d messed up her career like most of Lamb’s team. She revealed to River that Diana Taverner (Kristin Scott Thomas) had deliberately placed her there to secretly keep an eye on him.

Shortly after, Sid was shot in the head by Jed Moody (Steven Waddington). She and River had followed the masked intruder into journalist Robert Hobden’s house, and Moody shot Sid as he fled.

River immediately called for an ambulance while holding Sid outside, and she was rushed to hospital. She was still alive but in the ICU, with Lamb later telling River the doctors thought she “might live” – River even visited an unconscious Sid in hospital in episode 4.

But what happened to her next isn’t shown on screen. Lamb eventually told River that Sid was “gone”, seemingly confirming she’d died from her injuries.

But in the season 1 finale, Roddy revealed that there was no record of Sid ever being treated at the hospital. Even stranger, when he searched MI5’s database, there was no record of Sidonie Baker at all.

As Roddy pointed out to River at the time, this meant Sid “might still be alive somewhere”. Five seasons later, it turns out he was right.

Olivia Cooke reveals what Sid was doing for all those years

So, what was she doing all that time? Season 6 episode 3 will no doubt teach us more, but Sid star Olivia Cooke opened up about her return in an interview with The AU Review, saying her character’s been living a very lonely existence. 

When asked whether she’d had conversations with the writing team about what happened during those years Sid was missing, Olivia replied, “Yeah, we did. I think she was at a rehabilitation facility that a lot of ex-spies who have been injured doing field ops go to. 

“It’s a very secretive place where you get rehabilitated. Then I think she was put in a secure location somewhere in Cumbria, out in the countryside, where she’s essentially been told, ‘Wait until we call upon you.’”

“That does a lot when you don’t have any autonomy. She’s basically been a prisoner, and her life has gotten so, so small. I think it was really helpful for me coming back to Sid because I’ve also had so much time away.”

The House of the Dragon star also elaborated on the impact of “Sid’s death” on her character’s psyche, and whether remnants of Sid still remained. 

“I think there are obviously large remnants of her in there, but I think she has lost herself along the way. She’s lived an incredibly lonely existence,” Olivia replied. 

All of that begs the question: why does she go to David Cartwright’s house, of all places? Thankfully, that’s something Olivia answered too. 

Why Sid goes to David Cartwright’s house in season 6

With the Slow Horses being targeted, it appears Sid has realised her own life is in danger – and so she goes to David’s house looking for River, one of the few people she feels safe with.

As Olivia explained, “I don’t think Diana Taverner has told her barely any truth about what her situation is, and I think she’s just been in a holding pattern until she feels like, ‘Oh no, I think my life is in danger again. I know what that feels like, to almost lose it, and I don’t feel safe.’

“Who’s the one person in recent memory that I did feel safe with? That’s River. And so, hence, she goes looking for him. 

“But I do think she’s lived a very solitary life for a few years, and it’s not an easy way back into the dynamic they had in the first season. It’s wrought with tension and confusion, and it just feels like there’s a lot of stuff in the way.”

In a separate interview with ANSA, Olivia said, “She definitely has post-traumatic stress disorder.” But it appears she’s not ruling out something happening with River down the line, with the actress telling the outlet that Sid’s been thinking about him during her years of solitude. 

“Their relationship was so exciting, so new, on the verge of becoming something. Over the years, she’s idealised him. She’s thought about him, about what could have happened,” she said. 

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Featured image credit: Apple TV