The Cold War is over — again. Peacock has opted not to renew its 1970s espionage thriller Ponies, starring Emilia Clarke and Haley Lu Richardson, for a second season.
The decision comes five months after the period comedy-drama premiered on Jan. 15. It does not come as a surprise — while the series drew acclaim with 94% on Rotten Tomatoes from critics and also scored well with regular viewers (83%), ultimately there weren’t enough people watching to justify a renewal.
Ponies can still end its run on a high note with major nominations as the show and its stars are considered solid contenders in the comedy categories at the 2026 Emmys, the voting for which ended yesterday. (The series just won the BetaSeries Public Prize at the 65th Monte-Carlo Television Festival and Richardson received a Gotham Television Awards nomination earlier this year.)
Set in 1977 Moscow, Ponnies follows Bea (Clarke) and Twila (Richardson), two “PONIES” (“persons of no interest) working as secretaries in the American Embassy who become CIA operatives after spy husbands are killed in the USSR under mysterious circumstances.
The series, co-created and executive produced by David Iserson and Susanna Fogel, ended on several cliffhangers, leaving many loose ends that now won’t be tied up. They include Bea and Twila being held at gunpoint by the KGB in the final seconds of the finale, Bea’s presumed dead husband Chris making a surprise return, the Moscow U.S. Embassy being breached by Soviet intelligence and Bea’s asset/budding love interest Sasha getting gravely wounded, with his fate in limbo.
In a Q&A with Deadline at the time of the series’ release, Iserson and Fogel addressed the shocking developments in the finale and gave some hints where they were planning to take the series in Season 2.
“Bea and Twila have come so far and learned so much from each other by the end of Season 1, Season 2 will be about them having to put those skills to use when the stakes are so much higher,” Iserson and Fogel told Deadline back then. “The political crisis created by the events of the finale has thrown everything into chaos.”
Iserson, who also served as co-showrunner, and Fogel, who also directed, executive produced with co-showrunner Mike Daniels, Jessica Rhoades, and Clarke. Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group, was the studio.
English (US) ·