Slow Horses season 6 completely changed Reece from the books thanks to Lenny Rush

Slow Horses season 6 has introduced us to plenty of new faces (and the return of a very familiar one), but one of the biggest scene-stealers so far has to be Reece Nesmith.

Played by Lenny Rush, Reece officially debuted in season 6 episode 3 of the Apple TV series after briefly being spotted fleeing the scene of his father Andrew’s murder in the previous episode.

Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman) and Roddy Ho (Christopher Chung) eventually track him down and take him into their own version of “protective custody”, with Reece quickly proving he’s more than capable of holding his own against the Slough House agents.

But fans of Mick Herron’s original novels may have noticed he’s completely different from the character we meet in the books. And it turns out the change was actually made for a very specific reason.

Slow Horses changed Reece after Lenny Rush was suggested for the role

Yes, rather than simply adapting the story for the screen, the real reason for the book change was due to the producers simply admiring Lenny Rush’s work and wanting to find a way to make Reece work. 

Speaking to TV Insider, Slow Horses co-executive producer Gaby Chiappe explained, “We were all talking about it in the writers’ room, and one of the producers suddenly said Lenny’s name, and everybody got really excited at the thought of that.

“What that gives you, what the show hasn’t had before – you always want the show to be the show that the audience love, but it’s good to bring in new things. 

“There’s not been a young character, a very young character before, and everybody, I think, was familiar with Lenny’s work and just thought, ‘Oh God, that would be brilliant.’ And then you start thinking, ‘Lenny and Ho, Lenny and Gary Oldman, that is very exciting.’”

This meant rewriting Reece’s story. In the books, he’s an adult whose partner is killed, leading him to turn to Lamb and the rest of Slough House for answers. But the Apple TV series instead introduces him as a teenager whose father – one of the Park’s “Dogs” – is murdered, leaving Reece as a key witness.

Making him a teenager also completely changes the dynamic between him and the adults of Slough House, and to great comedic effect. Honestly, I could watch an entire episode of Roddy giving “inspiring” life lessons to his reluctant “Padawan”. 

But the basic function of the character remains the same: a violent death drags him into the wider mystery about who is targeting Slough House. Given his father’s killer – River’s (Jack Lowden) evil dad, Frank Harkness (Hugo Weaving) – knows he’s a witness, Lamb and Roddy take him away to safety in the latest episode. 

Who is Lenny Rush? 

Despite being one of the youngest additions to the Slow Horses cast, Rush already has an impressive career behind him.

The 17-year-old actor won a BAFTA TV Award for his performance as Ollie in Daisy May Cooper’s Am I Being Unreasonable?, while his previous credits also include Doctor Who, Dodger, Best Interests, Renegade Nell and Enola Holmes 2.

Rush has spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita, a form of dwarfism, and has spoken openly about both his condition and disability representation throughout his career.

Speaking to The Guardian in 2023, Rush explained that his condition can affect his “sight, walking, stamina, balance and hearing”, and revealed he had undergone several operations, including spinal surgery.

He also spoke about wanting his career to help improve representation for people with dwarfism, particularly after growing up with relatively few actors with the same condition to look up to.

“There weren’t too many people out there,” he said, naming Warwick Davis – who has the same condition – alongside actors including Peter Dinklage and the late Verne Troyer.

“There should be more. Perhaps that is one of the reasons why I do acting – to get a bit of representation out there and hopefully encourage people.”

At the same time, Rush has been clear that he doesn’t want his disability to determine the kinds of characters he can play. Discussing his future as an adult actor, he told the outlet he wouldn’t want to find himself restricted to playing fantasy characters because of his dwarfism, adding: “You don’t want to get typecast as something because of your disability.”

And his career certainly isn’t slowing down. After joining Slow Horses, Rush has now been cast as Dobby in HBO’s new Harry Potter adaptation, with the character set to make his debut in season 2.

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Featured image credit: Apple TV