‘Ponies’ Fans Are Angry After Show’s Cancellation: “Massive Fumble”
The espionage drama drew 94% critic scores on Rotten Tomatoes but failed to reach Nielsen’s streaming top 10, Peacock said.
- Peacock has canceled the 1970s espionage series Ponies after one season. The drama, starring Emilia Clarke and Haley Lu Richardson, premiered as a binge release on January 15, 2026.
- Set in 1977 Moscow, the series followed embassy secretaries Bea and Twila who became CIA operatives after their husbands died under mysterious circumstances in the Soviet Union.
- Despite earning a 94% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the show failed to reach Nielsen's top 10 streaming charts, where the 10th-place series averaged 379 million viewing minutes.
- Creators David Iserson and Susanna Fogel had expressed confidence in renewal, ending the season on multiple cliffhangers. The cancellation leaves these plot lines unresolved, as the showrunners 'bet on this show' to continue the narrative.
- The series is being submitted for several categories at the Emmys this year, though Peacock remains without a second season. The cast included Adrian Lester and Vic Michaelis alongside Clarke and Richardson.
17 Articles
17 Articles
‘Ponies’ fans are angry after show’s cancellation: “Massive fumble”
Fans of the show Ponies are taking their frustration to social media, following the show’s cancellation after just one season. Emilia Clarke and Haley Lu Richardson starred in the Cold War-set show, as two secretaries working at the US embassy in Moscow who are thrust into espionage following the death of their husbands. The show debuted in January on US streaming service Peacock, and in May in the UK on Sky, but has been cancelled after one sea…
'Ponies' Co-Creator Bids Farewell to 'Bold, Stylish' Peacock Show 'For Now': 'I Hope We All Get to Visit Them Again'
Just hours after news broke that Peacock opted not to renew “Ponies” for a second season, co-creator David Iserson bid farewell to the Haley Lu Richardson and Emilia Clarke-led series “for now.” “What we made surpassed all my hopes and dreams for a television show,” Iserson wrote in a Tuesday Instagram post. “Saying this fights every self-deprecating, humble bone in my body, but ‘Ponies’ is a great show. And it was made by great people. I am pro…
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