Peacock’s Cold War Gem ‘Ponies’ Is Gone After One Season and Fans Are Not Happy About It
Peacock made a decision that has sent shockwaves through the streaming TV community, pulling the plug on one of the streamer’s most critically celebrated originals just months after its debut. The Cold War spy dramedy ‘Ponies’ had quietly built a devoted fanbase since arriving on the platform at the top of the year, earning the kind of glowing press coverage that many shows spend entire runs chasing.
Set in Moscow in 1977, ‘Ponies’ follows Bea Grant and Twila Hasbeck, two embassy secretaries who are, in intelligence parlance, “persons of no interest.” That changes dramatically when their CIA husbands are both killed under mysterious circumstances in the USSR, thrusting the two women into the heart of a vast Cold War conspiracy. The series was co-created by David Iserson and Susanna Fogel, with Fogel directing four of the eight episodes and Iserson serving alongside Mike Daniels as co-showrunner. Emilia Clarke also executive produced in addition to starring, lending the project a personal investment that came through clearly on screen.
The series originally debuted its entire eight-episode first season on Peacock on January 15, receiving mostly positive reviews from critics, with a 94% critical approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Rotten Tomatoes’ critics consensus praised Clarke and Haley Lu Richardson’s tag-team charisma, describing the show as much a buddy adventure as it is an espionage caper that gradually achieves full gallop. That kind of enthusiastic critical reception, combined with an 83% audience score, made the axe falling all the more jarring for supporters of the show.
Despite the acclaim, the cancellation was not entirely a surprise. While critics and general viewers both responded positively, ultimately there were not enough people watching to justify a renewal, and ‘Ponies’ failed to make an appearance in Nielsen’s streaming top 10 charts following its premiere. Peacock, which does not regularly release its own viewership data, gave no public explanation for the decision, leaving fans to read between the lines of the silence.
The cancellation is particularly painful given how the season ended, with Bea and Twila held at gunpoint by the KGB in the final moments of the finale, Bea’s presumed dead husband making a surprise return, and Bea’s love interest Sasha left gravely wounded with his fate unresolved. Iserson and Fogel had been feeling confident enough about the show’s renewal prospects that they were dropping hints about a second season, and had even received Peacock’s blessing to leave the finale on a set of cliffhangers, with Iserson saying the unresolved ending was “the only version we shot.”
In a heartfelt Instagram response to the news, Iserson called ‘Ponies’ “a bold, surprising, stylish television show” and reflected on how everything beyond the creative work, including ratings and algorithms, was beyond his control. “I am very lucky to have made something I love,” he wrote, urging anyone who had not yet seen the show to seek it out, saying it is “not like anything else on television.” Richardson, for her part, responded on her Instagram Stories with an image of donuts bearing the words “Ponies,” her character name Twila, and the phrase “4Ever.”
Despite its cancellation, ‘Ponies’ may not go out quietly, as the show and its stars are considered solid contenders in the comedy categories at the 2026 Emmys. The series also recently won the BetaSeries Public Prize at the 65th Monte-Carlo Television Festival, and Richardson earned a Gotham Television Awards nomination earlier this year. There is currently no information about Universal Television shopping ‘Ponies’ to other platforms, though given the Emmy buzz and the passionate fan response to the cancellation, it seems unlikely the conversation will end here.
If you watched Bea and Twila’s Cold War adventure and think Peacock made the wrong call, or if the cancellation just convinced you to finally give ‘Ponies’ a watch, share your thoughts in the comments.
