‘Slow Horses’ Star Christopher Chung on Balancing Ego and Empathy as Fan-Favorite Roddy Ho

“Slow Horses” may be headed by Gary Oldman’s dishevelled MI5 agent Jackson Lamb but it was Roddy Ho, played by Christopher Chung, who took the reins in Season 5.

The clueless computer nerd with an outsized attitude finally got a storyline matching his main character energy when he found himself romantically pursued by the mysterious Tara (Hiba Bennani), who couldn’t possibly be after anything more than Ho’s hot bod – at least in his mind.

As well as being an opportunity for Chung to flex his dance muscles (literally, with the help of “Slow Horses” choreographer Johnny White), Season 5 upended the classic nerdy stereotype to some extent, from the raw energy of Roddy’s interrogation scene with MI5 boss Diana Taverner (played by Kristin Scott Thomas) to the condom hidden away in his gold Nikes (“He’s always prepared,” laughs Chung).

But this being Roddy, a reality check is never too far away, as he eventually realized when Tara went on the run and left him to face the consequences. Blending ego and empathy, Chung delivered a skilled performance that may well win over Emmy voters in the supporting actor (drama) category this cycle.

Ahead of Season 6 returning to Apple TV this fall, Chung sat down with Variety to talk about the fun he had shooting Season 5, the hidden details that bring Roddy to life and the challenges of playing a character that’s as obnoxious as he is endearing.

Roddy really takes center stage in Season 5. Were you looking forward to filming this season?

Yeah. In the fifth book [the show is based on Mick Herron’s novel series of the same name], Roddy had a huge moment, so I was really hoping that we would get renewed up until Season 5 so I could play that storyline out, and thankfully we did.

Did you work closely with showrunner Will Smith on shaping Roddy’s journey this season?

Will’s always been really wonderful with incorporating the ideas that that I have — not just me, but also with Gary and Jack [Lowden] and Saskia [Reeves, who play fellow agents] — but because we’d also worked with Saul Metzstein, who was our Season 3 director, who came back to do Season 5, we already had a really efficient shorthand about ideas that I wanted to bring in for Roddy in Season 5, and how he might play in the cell with Taverner, and what that looks like: is it more of a kind of choreographed moment or is it more animalistic? We settled on something in between the two, which is what you see when I do my monologue to the agents that are watching me in the cell.

Season 5 opens with Roddy dancing through London. How many takes did you do and how many days did you have to shoot?

One day. We probably did it about 25+ times.

That scene was shot at the Barbican in East London. Was it a challenging environment to film in?

It was crazy windy. But I think the thing that I hadn’t anticipated was that because I did so much jumping around in that space and it was all concrete, I really screwed my back doing it, so I got to the end of the day and I was like, “Oh, I don’t feel like I can move so great” and I knew that we also had the club scene coming up where I had to do way more of a choreographed dance with 300 extras in that scene, which, you know, it’s not unheard of but it’s obviously the kind of scale that Apple like to do, so I was like, “Oh God, I don’t know if I’m gonna be able to move through that.” But I did!

What was it like to film the club scene, especially when you’re shooting intimate moments in such a crowded environment?

Figuring out the camera choreography — because obviously it’s such a big piece of equipment, but you want to be right in amongst the action with Ho and Tara — having that kind of choreography was quite challenging. There was one take where the cameraman was following me, and Saul kept the music playing, so I’d gone beyond the choreography that I had learned and I was just freestyling with Hiba, who plays Tara. I dropped down to the floor at one point and then I popped back up because I was going mental, because it felt like a real club, and I absolutely smacked Vince [McGahon, the Steadicam operator] and the camera. I was concerned for Vince, obviously, but I was more concerned for the camera equipment, because it’s so expensive!

There’s also some great choreography in the cell scene with Diana Taverner (Kristin Scott Thomas) where she is interrogating Roddy. How did you approach that?

When I read it on the page initially, I was like, it’s so farcical and it’s so big, it has to be done in a really grounded but obnoxious way. It’s a really good herald back to the books, because so much of the books — Roddy’s dialogue or point of view — is written from internal monologue. So this is the first time I think throughout all the seasons, even the seasons beyond this, that you actually see that internal monologue play out, and what’s going on in his head, because he is, in this sense, a caged animal being watched; he jumps up and he’s shaking on the window.

Working with Kristin, none of that stuff obviously was pre-planned, but getting her reactions and just playing with her as Ho is so satisfying, because she’s so proper — Kristin and obviously Taverner as the character. [I’m] trying to push her buttons as much as possible and she has this cheeky little smile.

It’s a really fun dynamic to play with.

How much did you warn Kristin about what she was going to witness from Roddy in that scene?

Obviously we do the block before we go to shoot, but it’s almost fun to see her have to deal with him in real time, isn’t it?

Roddy is something of a fan favorite but he must be a tricky character to play: he’s obnoxious but also endearing, oblivious and also funny. How much are you thinking about balancing those aspects when you’re playing him?

All the time. Because I knew that so much of the central focus [of] Season 5 would be around him, it’s such a delicate balance to play, because too much of him can be overwhelming and you don’t want it to lean into farce, you don’t want it to be like too big and out of the world … everything that Ho does is really grounded in who he is as a person, and it’s the same character that’s been there for the past four seasons prior, just now there’s more of him in the show; you see his house, you see him out in a restaurant with Lamb and you see him in all of these different situations, because you’re so used to seeing him behind the desk, and this is just who he is in those different environments.

I think the thing with Ho is you never play it for the joke, everything is just genuine, it’s real. Like, that is his reality and everyone else is just kind of a small pawn in it. So really holding on to that as my anchor throughout this season was the thing that allowed me to navigate all of the beats, where I was like, “Oh, this could spill into something that’s way too much.”

Audiences love to see how Roddy changes up his look each season. Do you work collaboratively with the costume and make-up teams on Ho’s appearance? And did that extend to Roddy’s apartment, which we see properly for the first time?

When I got to set for the first time for them to show me [Ho’s apartment], it was pretty much done, and all of the things in there they’re so grounded in who Ho is as a person, I didn’t really have to ask for much. They put all his protein shakes in the cupboard, they put all of his Red Bull there, and all of his favorite snacks, and things that you just never see as an audience member, but as an actor, to have those things available to you, and to just go into that world from the get-go helps tremendously.

Because I’ve been working with the production designers and the props department for the last five seasons, they are as responsible for building the character as I am in so many ways, because what they give me to play with influences what I do as the character, and so I think everybody has a vested hand in creating the characters, not just the actors.

And how about the hair?

The hair, again, is a conversation that I’ve had with Lucy Sibbick, our make-up designer, since Season 1. We started to give Ho more of a look from Season 3 onwards, and then I knew that with Season 5 I really wanted him to have a man-bun, because I thought it was a perfect way of peacocking for him, and it was her idea to have it in that lilac color, so it always been a really incredible collaboration with the hair and make-up department, as well as the costume department, too.

Saul’s vision for Ho this season was like, “I really want him to have a normal track suit, a kind of day-to-day tracksuit, which is what you see in the opening scene, and then a fancy tracksuit, which is his peacocking tracksuit, which is what you see him wear for the entire season.” So [costume designer] Guy Speranza very graciously made some very special material in that purple-y metallic stuff and the detail — the zipper has a little dragon on it, the cuffs are gold, the Nike shoes that I have on are gold but they have a little pocket in it where Ho has a condom in there for later, which you never see, but again, it’s just like –he’s always prepared. But it’s all these little details that make it fun for you as an actor.

What can we expect from Roddy in Season 6, which is set to drop in September?

A new hairstyle! You’ll definitely see the hangover of what happened in Season 5, and he’s still trying to come to terms with the fact that Tara might not have been a true love. The Slow Horses band together and they go on the run from sinister forces.

And obviously we have Lenny Rush joining, who I got to work with, he’s wonderful, and to see him in that world, because he’s done so much comedy, it’s really great. I’m really excited for him.

This interview has been edited and condensed.