Peacock has dropped the entire first season of its new spy thriller Ponies, and it may be the streamer’s first breakout hit of 2026.
Game of Thrones‘ Emilia Clarke and The White Lotus‘ Haley Lu Richardson co-headline the series, which casts them as a pair of unlikely spies.
It’s too soon to say whether a second season will follow, but with an impressive critics’ score of 96 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, its renewal chances look pretty good.
Now, Watch With Us is sharing three reasons to watch Ponies on Peacock in January.
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Emilia Clarke and Haley Lu Richardson Have Great Chemistry Together
Ponies is a show that’s reliant on its two leads to make it work, and they do. The first episode brings Clarke and Richardson together very early on, and it establishes a rapport that carries on throughout the entire season. Tonally, Ponies leans more into comedy than anything else, but it’s just serious enough to have life and death stakes for Bea Grant (Clarke) and Twila Hasbeck (Richardson).
Their respective husbands, Chris Grant (Louis Boyer) and Tom Hasbeck (John Macmillan), are a pair of CIA agents who are reported dead in Russia under murky circumstances. That leaves Bea and Twila widowed and looking for answers. To get them, the pair volunteers for CIA undercover assignments in Russia that may get them killed. There are times when Ponies is more of an action comedy than a spy thriller, but the interplay between Richardson and Clarke makes it all worthwhile.
If You Love ‘The Americans,’ You’ll Probably Like ‘Ponies’
The most recent show that’s comparable to Ponies is The Americans, which starred Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys and ran for several seasons on FX. The former is a lot less serious than the latter, and it deviates from that formula by moving the story to Moscow during the early ’70s. That goes a long way towards getting it out from under the shadow of The Americans‘ ’80s storyline.
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Given current real-world tensions with Russia, Ponies wasn’t actually filmed in Moscow. But placing the events of the series in that city gives Clarke and Richardson a lot of material to play with. Twila is a lot more comfortable dealing with Russians, while Bea is a little out of her depth as her new job requires her to be more seductive and cunning than she ever was before. Keeping them in Moscow as the danger escalates makes it more exciting.
‘Ponies’ Picks Up Momentum as the Season Continues
Without giving too much about the season away, we can say that Bea and Twila get a crash course in spycraft because they’re in way over their heads. In particular, Bea succeeds in getting close to a high-level KGB operative, Andrei Vasiliev (Artjom Gilz), as well as a more mild-mannered Russian technician, Sasha Shevchenko (Petro Ninovskyi). Betraying the former is a lot easier than doing the same for the latter, but Andrei is legitimately dangerous and his presence gives the series most of its edge.
There are only eight episodes in the first season, so if it feels like Ponies is spinning its wheels, just keep in mind that the action will pick up as it heads towards a conclusion. This show may not be an awards contender like Homeland, but Ponies is very entertaining and deserving of a second season. If you decide to watch it, that can become a reality.
Ponies is streaming on Peacock.
