Ponies is an American spy thriller television series created by Susanna Fogel and David Iserson for Peacock, and starring Emilia Clarke, Haley Lu Richardson, Petro Ninovskyi, and Artjom Gilz. The series premiered on January 15, 2026, and received positive reviews from critics. In June 2026, the series was canceled after one season.
Premise In 1977, two secretaries Bea (Emilia Clarke) and Twila (Haley Lu Richardson) working at the United States embassy in Moscow become CIA operatives after their spy husbands die under mysterious circumstances.
Cast and characters Main Emilia Clarke as Beatrice "Bea" Grant Haley Lu Richardson as Twila Hasbeck Petro Ninovskyi as Sasha Shevchenko Artjom Gilz as Andrei Vasiliev Adrian Lester as Dane Walter Nicholas Podany as Ray Szymanski Vic Michaelis as Cheryl Szymanski
Recurring Harriet Walter as Manya Caplan Louis Boyer as Chris Grant John Macmillan as Tom Hasbeck Lili Walters as Ivanna Andrew Richardson as Shep Paul Chahidi as Alan Salek Maxim Gall as Trent Tanya Ivanova as Vera Pál Mácsai as Emile Tom Stourton as George Tallman Ana Neborac as Tatiana Sophia Shkliaruk as Galyna Clare Hughes as Eevi Diana Gardner as Aksana Nikita Kukushkin as Yuri
Guest Patrick Fabian as George H. W. Bush Eddie Toll as Mikhail Rob Delaney as Stanley Simon Haines as Sgt. Davis Carter Filipp Avdeev as Lev Sofia Kyrychenko as Katya Ivan Doan as Nikolai Natascha Bondar as Sofia Elisabeth Snegir as Young Sofia Robert Jackson as Malcolm Toon Alistair Mumford as Elton John
Episodes
Production The series is created by Susanna Fogel and David Iserson. Fogel directs the series, with Iserson as showrunner. Jessica Rhoades executive produces for Pacesetter Productions and Alison Mo Massey co-executive produces along with Katherine Bridle. Universal Television are producers. In August 2024, Emilia Clarke became attached to star and be an executive producer on the series.
Haley Lu Richardson joined the cast in November 2024. On February 4, 2025, Adrian Lester and Nicholas Podany were among those added to the cast.
Filming began in Budapest, Hungary in February 2025.
On June 23, 2026, Peacock canceled the series after one season, with Variety noting that while the series was critically acclaimed, the specific viewing ratings for the series were not available, beyond the fact that it had never appeared on the Nielsen streaming top 10 charts.
Release The series premiered on January 15, 2026, on Peacock, with all eight episodes released at once.
Reception Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the series a score of 76 out of 100, based on 12 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Vulture praised Clarke and Richardson's on-screen chemistry and how the series allows them to "put a spin on the types you may already associate with them" such as Daenerys Targaryen in Game of Thrones and Portia in The White Lotus. Likewise, Variety calls Clarke and Richardson's chemistry the "glue that binds the whole enterprise together".
In a more mixed review, Rendy Jones of RogerEbert.com noted that the series is overly reliant on late-’70s music to maintain the viewers’ attention, its spy narrative is overfamiliar, and 1970s pastiche does not always work. Angie Han of The Hollywood Reporter concluded that while Ponies "throws everything it can at the wall in search of excitement and sweetness and humor and tragedy" to have "moments of dazzle", ultimately the show's lack of depth, imprecise writing and consequently, unconvincing performances, make it a "forgettable distraction".
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