Jonathan Pryce said he found David Cartwright in real time while playing the character in the fifth season of Slow Horses. He also used the interview to mark Evita turning 30 this year, a reminder that his screen work still spans both long-form TV and older film touchstones.
Slow Horses and David Cartwright
Pryce said he had not read Mick Herron’s novels before taking on the role, and that choice shaped the way he worked. “I went from series to series fulfilling anything that was required of David Cartwright,” he said.
“I discovered things about the character in real time, and I think for me it was valuable that the audience discovered at the same time.” That approach fits a role built on movement rather than exposition, with David Cartwright’s authority increasingly overshadowed by a heartbreaking decline into dementia.
David Cartwright is a former head of MI5, so the performance depends on restraint as much as force. Pryce was blunt about that power dynamic: “The less they do, the more powerful they can be.”
Evita at 30
Evita turning 30 gives Pryce a second milestone in the same conversation, and he pointed straight to Alan Parker when asked what drew him to the project. “I think the main draw for me was… Alan Parker, an extraordinary filmmaker…” he said.
He added that the film still carries weight for him: “It’s a fantastic piece of work, and I think in some quarters it doesn’t get the recognition it really deserves,” he said. Pryce also said it was “great to watch afterwards to see what the images that Alan created…,” a neat way of saying the film’s craft still holds up as the anniversary arrives.
Emmy nomination and TV run
Jonathan Pryce is also celebrating his Emmy nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Guest Actor in a Drama Series, which keeps the Slow Horses work in current awards conversation. He said long-form television is part of the appeal: “It’s just great being able to tell that story over a number of weeks and months and years,” and “It’s a great privilege.”
For viewers, that means the fifth season is not just another stop for David Cartwright. Pryce is treating the role as an evolving part, and the interview suggests the series is still letting him discover as it goes.
