Tamal Kundu
Portrayed by Olivia Cooke, Sidonie “Sid” Baker is one of the main characters in the first season of the Apple TV+ spy thriller ’Slow Horses.’ Despite being extremely competent at her job, Sid is sent to Slough House, an MI5 division that effectively serves as the career graveyard for poorly performing and disgraced agents. It is later revealed that she is there to keep an eye on River Cartwright (Jack Lowden), a fellow MI5 operative who is banished to Slough House after a very public training exercise blunder. If the events depicted in the first season of ‘Slow Horses’ has made you wonder whether Cooke has left the show for good, here is what you need to know. SPOILERS AHEAD.
What Happened to Sid Baker?
In season 1 episode 2, River and Sid are assigned to follow the right-wing journalist Robert Hobden. This is when Sid confesses her real reasons for being at Slough House. As River tries to figure out what to say in response to the fact that Sid has been sent to the administrative purgatory just to keep tabs on him, a masked person breaks into Hobden’s house. Noticing this, the agents try to capture the person. Hobden manages to flee, but the intruder shoots Sid in the head before running away. In episode 3, we learn that Sid has survived but is currently in a coma at a hospital.
Diana Taverner, the Deputy Director-General of MI5, informs Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman), the head of Slough House, that Sid is dead in episode 5. However, in the season finale, River learns from Roddy, the computer expert at Slough House, all evidence of Sid’s existence has disappeared. This implies that she might be alive and is out there somewhere.
Olivia Cooke’s Temporary Exit From Slow Horses
In an interview with The Wrap, James Hawes, who directed all six episodes of the first season, weighed in on the chances of Sid being alive. “I can’t possibly tell you that. I’m giving you a hint that there might be some secrets in there. Anybody that’s read all the novels will know that there is a discussion to be had. I could possibly say that you are surprised again in some way about several characters,” he said
‘Slow Horses’ is based on the ‘Slough House’ series of novels by Mick Herron. The first two seasons are the TV adaptations of the first two books, ‘Slow Horses’ and ‘Dead Lions.’ In Herron’s original works, Sid is indeed revealed to be alive. This is first hinted at in ‘London Rules,’ the fifth book in the series. In ‘Slough House,’ the seventh book, Sid shows up in the house that originally belonged to River’s late grandfather and asks for River’s help.
We learn that after surviving being shot in the head, Sid stayed at a Service facility in the Lake District, recuperating from her injuries. It becomes quickly apparent that something has fundamentally changed about her personality. When she tells River that two people are after her, he wonders whether they are real or she is hallucinating them because of her injuries.
Apple TV+ has already greenlit the show for the third and fourth seasons. If the series continues to adapt one book per season, we can see Cooke’s return to the cast in season 7, even though it appears that she has temporarily left the show.
Cooke plays Alicent Hightower, one of the main characters in the much-anticipated ‘Game of Thrones’ spinoff, ‘House of the Dragon,’ which has turned her into an international star. So she will not lack for job offers anytime soon. However, she seems to love her character in ‘Slow Horses.’ So if there is indeed a season 7, and if Sid has been written back into the narrative, Cooke is most likely to reprise her role.
”Yeah. It’s tricky, because she is quite brilliant, and she has to hide that fact,” Cooke said about Sid in an interview with Screen Rant Plus. “But when you’re brilliant at something, you find it really hard to hide that fact when there’s ineptitude around you.”
The actress continued, “It’s tricky, because I think she loves taking the piss out of River and loves the relationship that she’s formed with him. But she’s also quite duplicitous in that relationship as well, which she has to keep under wraps.”
Read More: What is the Meaning of Slow Horses Title?
