The Season 5 premiere of Slow Horses kicks off with Christopher Chung’s Roddy Ho nearly getting run over by a dodgy white van, then ends with him kissing his new girlfriend, Tara (Hiba Bennani), goodbye after a night out at the club. Can you guess which scenario is less believable?

While a seemingly intentional near-death experience is certainly cause for concern, fans of Apple TV+‘s Emmy and BAFTA Award-winning espionage drama inspired by Mick Herron’s books know that the borderline insufferable tech expert landing a smokin’ hot girlfriend is incredibly suspicious. So naturally, Slough House’s finest misfit MI5 agents start investigating. As Lamb (Gary Oldman), River (Jack Lowden), Catherine (Saskia Reeves), Shirley (Aimee-Ffion Edwards), and Coe (Tom Booke) race to figure out how Ho’s curious new romance is connected to larger threats throughout the city, Roddy McRodster and Chung become central to the story in ways the 37-year-old actor hoped for ever since landing the dream role.

“I was most excited about showing the journey that Roddy goes through with Tara, and his justification that she’s not actually a honey trap, that she was coerced into doing this and she does actually love him,” Chung, who expertly flexes his comedic chops in Season 5, told Decider over Zoom. “Really playing into delusion and figuring out how to balance a sense of vulnerability with him that makes the audience feel empathetic towards him was a really exciting dynamic for me to try to craft and show throughout.”

At the end of Season 5’s premiere, after the Hot Rod and his girl spend a romantic night on the town together, Slow Horses shows Tara texting a menacing message to an unknown recipient: “He’s heading to his flat alone.” Shortly after Ho returns home in Episode 2, where Lamb is waiting to ensure no one tries to kill him, a hitman does indeed break in and attempt to take them both out. Much to that assassin’s dismay, the Slow Horses escape after Lamb throws a bucket of bleach and Ho attacks with a giant light-up sword. (Yes, really!)

When Chung looks back on the eventful season, the unique action sequence, quality time with Oldman, and a look inside the Hot Rod’s flat — aka “The House of Ho” — are some of his most prized memories.

“When I read [the script], I was like, ‘What’s this sword going to look like? Is it going to be like a katana? Is it going to be like an Excalibur? Is it going to be Conan the Barbarian’s sword? And it was not just the Conan the Barbarian sword, it had LEDs in it, which was absolutely phenomenal,” Chung told Decider, confirming those sword-wielding scenes “absolutely” lived up to the hype as an actor.

After arriving home and hearing a noise, Ho grabs the nerdy weapon off of his wall and creeps upstairs to investigate, giving viewers a look at a captivating, meticulously-crafted set that features framed video game posters, Warhammer figures, a mini-fridge stocked with energy drinks, workout equipment (the Hot Rod is “ripped” and the Slow Horses star is a real-life personal trainer, duh!) and more Ho-specific touches — all of which deeply delighted Chung.

“When I walked into my flat for the first time, my jaw was on the floor. I was like, ‘This is exactly the kind of boho, electro-chic thing that that Roddy would absolutely invest himself in, right up to the nunchucks on the wall, the ninja stars that are in a cupboard, and the protein bars and protein powder in the kitchen,” the Slow Horses star explained. “That’s the tragedy of this show. All the detail of the sets and design is not captured in one long shot. It’s all there for us as actors to play with, but it’s so nuanced and specific, to the point where I’m going through my own wardrobe. There’s clothes, and all these things, and though I’m never going to open that drawer, it’s there if I want to play with it, which is bonkers to me.”

Chung, who discusses Ho-specific design elements and components he wants to incorporate into each season with the set designer, hair and makeup, and wardrobe, said the team works hard to ground every detail in the character. Yes, even the circular waterbed with burgundy silk sheets, which both Lamb and Oldman were drawn to upon entering Ho’s room.

“My favorite memory of Gary [Oldman] being in my apartment was when we first stepped onto the set, he sat on the waterbed and couldn’t get out of it,” Chung fondly recalled. “That was proper jokes. I think that’s an image that will live in my head for the rest of my life. We had so much fun. This space is so heightened and so bizarre, but completely grounded in who Ho is as a person, and a really good commentary on how Ho lives in the world, which is loud and brash and unapologetic. And putting Lamb in that space and seeing what that dynamic brings out when he tells Ho that someone’s trying to kill him is just so fun. It’s joyous.”

In addition to Ho and Lamb’s quality time outside the office, Slow Horses Season 5 also gave the actor the chance to share the screen with the great Kristin Scott Thomas, who plays MI5’s brilliant Second Desk, Diana Taverner.

“Reading the scenes between Ho and Taverner in the novel, it was something that I was really hoping would live up to my expectations when we got to it,” Chung excitedly recalled, teasing standout interactions ahead. “When I received them on the page and the script, I was thrilled. And then actually doing them with Kristin was an absolute joy.”

In shared and solo scenes alike, Chung’s elevated Season 5 performance proves he’s perfectly cast as Roddy Ho, and more than worthy of another BAFTA Best Supporting Actor nomination next year. He skillfully harnesses humor, maddening levels of hubris, and just the right amount of heart needed to keep you rooting and feeling empathy for Ho, even at his most detestable.

Chung, far more humble than his self-absorbed character, stressed that it took a village to create the Ho we know and love/hate, and until recently, that village was led by Emmy-winning showrunner, writer, and executive producer Will Smith.

Back in July, Smith told Deadline that Season 5 would be his last, despite Slow Horses being green-lit through Season 7. While Smith previously told Decider he’d be open to making “as many [seasons] as Apple and Gary and the audience want,” in order to maintain Slow Horses‘ beloved one season per year release, the rigorous production schedule simultaneously requires writing/shooting/editing three separate seasons. The work, while adored, is incredibly demanding, especially with other projects like Caledonian Road and The Siege in the pipeline. Smith will undoubtedly be missed, but his crucial contributions in crafting the world of Slow Horses and characters like Ho are forever ingrained in the show’s DNA.

“Will has been such an integral part of creating Roddy with me. I call this the hive mind. Will is a big kid like me, so we find it very easy to riff off one another to create moments for Roddy within scenes when we’re filming, which has been absolutely fantastic,” Chung explained. “Because of the filming schedule and everything that this show is, and how fast we move, it became unfeasible for him to continue. And I think, by his own admission, wanting the best for the show, he decided to step away and left on a really huge high. I couldn’t be happier that he got to write this season. It’s excellent.”

New episodes of Slow Horses Season 5 premiere Wednesdays on Apple TV+.