‘Slow Horses’ Just Made Emmy History With a Directing Win That’s Becoming a Tradition

Spy dramas rarely manage to balance dry British humor with genuine tension, but Apple TV’s ‘Slow Horses’ has spent the past several seasons proving it can do exactly that. The show follows a team of disgraced MI5 agents exiled to the department’s most humiliating outpost, and it has quietly built one of the more consistent awards track records in the drama category.

That consistency showed up again at this year’s Emmy ceremony, where the series continued a run that’s starting to feel like more than just good luck. ‘Slow Horses’ entered the night with another directing nomination attached to its name, competing in a category that also included work from ‘The Pitt,’ ‘Pluribus,’ ‘The Gilded Age,’ and ‘Paradise.’

Saul Metzstein won Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for his work on “Scars,” the ‘Slow Horses’ episode from the show’s fifth season, beating out Salli Richardson Whitfield for ‘The Gilded Age,’ Hanelle M. Culpepper for ‘Paradise,’ Noah Wyle for ‘The Pitt,’ and Vince Gilligan for ‘Pluribus.’ The win marks Metzstein’s second Emmy in the category, following an earlier nomination in 2024 for directing “Strange Games” during the show’s third season.

What makes the achievement especially notable is the show’s unusual production setup. Unlike most series, ‘Slow Horses’ brings in a completely new director for each season, meaning the show has now produced Emmy-nominated or Emmy-winning directing work from multiple different filmmakers across its run rather than relying on one consistent voice behind the camera.

Metzstein described the appeal of stepping into that rotating structure in an earlier conversation about the series. “I try to make dialogue scenes feel alive rather than just functional,” he told the Television Academy, reflecting on what it takes to pick up a show already in motion each time a new season begins. He’s previously called the series “the spy world’s answer to The Office,” a description that captures the blend of workplace dysfunction and genuine stakes that defines its tone.

This year’s win also extends a broader pattern for the franchise at the Emmys. Last year’s directing trophy in the same category went to Adam Randall for the show’s fourth season episode “Hello Goodbye,” meaning ‘Slow Horses’ has now claimed back-to-back directing wins with two entirely different directors working on two entirely different seasons.

The series has built out a respectable Emmy history well beyond directing. It previously won Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series in both 2024 and 2025, both credited to writer Will Smith for the episodes “Negotiating With Tigers” and “Hello Goodbye,” respectively.

Centered on Gary Oldman’s Jackson Lamb leading a team of MI5’s most disgraced agents out of the department’s Slough House division, ‘Slow Horses’ has managed to turn its premise into one of the more reliably acclaimed dramas on television, even while operating outside the more heavily marketed prestige shows dominating headlines elsewhere at this year’s ceremony.

Not everyone will make it out of Slough House alive.#SlowHorses Season 6 premieres September 16. pic.twitter.com/uznKQ0VSAE

— Apple TV (@AppleTV) August 18, 2026

With the directing win now firmly established as something close to a recurring habit for the franchise, the show’s rotating cast of directors appears to have found a formula that keeps translating into recognition, regardless of who’s actually behind the camera each season.

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