Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù in Slow Horses
Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù plays Sean Donovan in Series 3, which adapts Mick Herron’s Real Tigers. Donovan is a former head of security at the British embassy in Istanbul. He enters the programme with skills and experience that place him outside Slough House’s familiar office comedy. The opening episode establishes that his story deserves attention before London’s regular characters understand its consequences.
Dìrísù’s controlled delivery gives Donovan’s encounters a seriousness that contrasts with Spider Webb’s eagerness to impress. His pauses allow another person’s evasions to become conspicuous. This is a role built around resolve, and the performance makes that resolve legible without requiring the character to explain himself in every conversation. It adds a different pressure to a series already crowded with people protecting their status.
Standout scenes and Will Smith’s comments: Series 3 spoilers
In TheWrap’s November 2023 interview, showrunner Will Smith praised Dìrísù’s performance and identified Donovan’s grief, revenge and demand for justice as the forces driving the season. Those comments explain the emotional weight of the Istanbul opening in Strange Games. His later confrontation with the Service is rooted in loss rather than an ambition to win an intelligence promotion.
Revisit Cleaning Up and Footprints for the performance under mounting physical pressure. Donovan’s pursuit of the evidence brings him into the storage facility’s lethal confrontation. Dìrísù retains the character’s determination even as the operation narrows his options, making the season’s institutional wrongdoing feel personal rather than merely procedural.
Film and television highlights
Dìrísù’s other major television role is Elliot Finch in Gangs of London (from 2020). His agency confirms the character and the return for the second series in 2022. The programme gives him extended action work as well as the problem of maintaining an identity within a violent organisation. Viewers who recognise his ability to make trained competence convincing in Slow Horses will find a larger canvas there.
In Remi Weekes’s His House (2020), he plays Bol, opposite Wunmi Mosaku in a horror story about refugees adjusting to a new home. The role helped establish his film career: his agency records Best Actor nominations from BIFA and the Critics Choice Super Awards, and an EE BAFTA Rising Star nomination in 2021. These are nominations, rather than acting wins for the film.
Mr Malcolm’s List (2022) makes him the title character in a Regency romantic comedy. The agency’s release announcement confirms the role. Moving from horror and violent contemporary drama to an eligible bachelor’s exacting expectations changes both the pace and the social setting of his performance. In Vanity Fair’s interview, he discussed the role’s romantic model and the opportunity to explore a warmer leading character.
Stage work
Dìrísù played the title role in the RSC’s Coriolanus in 2017, a credit identified in his Times interview. In 2025 he played Bérenger in Eugène Ionesco’s Rhinoceros at the Almeida. The productions place him in very different confrontations with a crowd: a Roman warrior and an ordinary man facing an extraordinary collective transformation. Both extend the range beyond the physical demands of his television work.
Where to watch next
His House is the best next film for emotional intensity. Choose Gangs of London for a sustained television lead, or Mr Malcolm’s List for romantic comedy. For a shorter change of pace, he voices the title character in the BBC’s animated Tabby McTat (2023), a credit confirmed by his agency.
Questions and answers
Which Slow Horses role does Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù play?
He portrays Sean Donovan in the third series.
Is Dìrísù the lead in Mr Malcolm’s List?
He plays Mr Malcolm, the Regency suitor at the centre of the film.
Was Dìrísù nominated for BAFTA Rising Star?
He was one of the nominees for the 2021 EE Rising Star Award.