Gary Oldman Delivers Heartbreaking News
Legendary actor Gary Oldman has played Commissioner Gordon, Dracula, and that guy from The Fifth Element, but now he has some bad news.
There comes a time in every actor’s career when they start to acknowledge retirement. For fans this can often come as heartbreaking news, knowing that at some point their favorite thespian will no longer create new work. One such actor contemplating hanging up their boots is none other than Gary Oldman, Deadline reports.
Oldman sat with Deadline to talk about his recent switch to television, appearing in the Apple TV+ espionage thriller Slow Horses, which is based on the novel of the same name written by Mick Herron. Oldman stars as Jackson Lamb, an operative at the helm of a group of downtrodden MI5 outcasts. Whilst discussing making the series, and having already filmed the series follow up Dead Lions, Oldman had this to say of his latest role: “You know, to be able to sort of wrap it all up playing Jackson Lamb, I would consider myself very honoured and very lucky to be able to do that.”
As worrisome as it may sound that Jackson Lamb could represent Gary Oldman’s last acting role, comfort can be found in the source material. Slow Horses and the already filmed follow-up Dead Lions (expected to premiere later this year) are based on a whole series of Jackson Lamb novels written by Mick Herron. Herron has written eight novels in the Slough House series and considering Apple TV+ was so keen on the property they had the first two adaptations filmed back to back, perhaps Gary Oldman will be gracing our screens for many years to come.
Oldman’s Jackson Lamb isn’t the first espionage character he has brought to life, he famously portrayed George Smiley in the feature film Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and in typical Gary Oldman fashion, disappeared into the role. Over Gary Oldman’s extensive career he has conjured countless iconic roles from Sid Vicious to Jim Gordon, Sirius Black to Dracula. Such is his ability to encompass a character, if one were to line up all his roles side by side, it would be difficult to comprehend they are all played by the same person. Oldman’s decades-long career started in the early 80’s, appearing in independent British films such as Mike Leigh’s Meantime. Eventually, Oldman progressed into Hollywood mainstream cinema and he was finally rewarded with an Oscar for Best Actor following his portrayal of Winston Churchill in The Darkest Hour at the 90th Academy Awards.
Such is Oldman’s talent on-screen, a retirement would be a dire shame for the rest of the world to endure. This leaves a lot of pressure on Slow Horses and the upcoming Dead Lions but if critical reception of the former is anything to go, fans could be in luck as Slow Horses has enjoyed a positive reaction among many critics. However long Jackson Lamb endures, it does indeed look as if Gary Oldman has his sights set on his acting horizon. However, fans of his will always be able to seek comfort in the fact that long after he calls time on his career, his many glorious roles will live on and there a very few actors that can match as delightful and as eccentric a career.
