Olivia Cooke has revealed she suffered a "really bad" injury while filming the Apple TV spy drama Slow Horses, pulling both of her quad muscles during a night shoot.
The 32-year-old actress, whose character MI5 agent Sidonie Baker made a shock return to the show after dying from a gunshot wound to the head in season one, spoke to Variety about the incident. She explained that she was running alongside co-star Jack Lowden, who plays River Cartwright, when she felt both thighs go.
Details of the Injury
Cooke described the moment: "It was like 2 in the morning, and we were being chased by a Land Rover. You're stretching, you're trying to keep warm, but I think I'd been a bit static for too long, and we set off and I just felt both thighs go snap. I pulled both of my quad muscles really, really badly. For two weeks, I was hobbling around. Just from a run! But then I thought to myself, 'When was the last time I got chased?' Since I was like 12!"
She noted that her character's return also happens in author Mick Herron's novels of the same name. Speaking about her resurrection, Cooke said: "We shot [Season 1] towards the end of 2020. It was one of the first projects back after lockdown. I don't know if the book had come out yet where I make my return, but there were whispers of it. I don't know. It was such an uncertain time, and it was the first series as well. It just felt, like, an eon away. Who would have thought it would have gone on for so long?"
Returning to the Show
Cooke admitted she had been watching the show from afar and was "tinged with jealousy" while not part of it. "I love watching them, and I love seeing how good all my friends are, but I'm also incredibly jealous as well that they're all having fun without me," she said.
Upon returning to film, Cooke was involved in night shoots for five weeks, which she said she "sort of loved". She praised director Adam Randall's approach, saying: "Adam has this energy about him where it sometimes feels a bit run-and-gun, which I love. And if a particular stunt doesn't work out, or when we get to the set, the material doesn't quite match with how the workings of the set are, he's like, 'All right, let's figure this out. Let's improvise.' It's so lovely for me as an actor, too, because I feel like there's a real energy to that."
Other On-Set Challenges
Aside from running, Cooke was also climbing fences, shooting, and being in the back of a moving truck while fire and gas cannisters were going off. However, she admitted that filming in a barn with a herd of cows was scary. "They're really big, and they can kick! I was just remembering old horror stories about people being killed by a stampede of cows, just walking across a field, and I was like, 'I'm so close to them!' But it was fine, no one died," she said.
