'Ponies' cancelled by Peacock after one season despite strong critical reviews

Peacock has cancelled Ponies after one season, bringing an end to the Cold War spy thriller led by Emilia Clarke and Haley Lu Richardson.

The series premiered on January 15, with all eight episodes of its first season released simultaneously on the streaming platform. Despite receiving favourable reviews from critics, Ponies will not return for a second season.

The show earned a 94% critics' approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. However, Peacock does not regularly release viewership figures for its original programming, making it difficult to determine how the series performed compared with other titles on the platform. Ponies also did not appear in Nielsen's streaming Top 10 rankings following its debut.

Set in Moscow in 1977, the drama followed two women working as secretaries at the American Embassy who unexpectedly become involved in espionage after the deaths of their husbands.

According to the show's official synopsis, Bea, played by Clarke, is an educated Russian-speaking daughter of Soviet immigrants, while Twila, portrayed by Richardson, is a fearless small-town woman.

The pair are recruited as CIA operatives and work together to uncover a Cold War conspiracy while investigating the mystery surrounding their husbands' deaths.

Alongside Clarke and Richardson, the cast included Adrian Lester, Artjom Gilz, Nicholas Podany, Petro Ninovskyi and Vic Michaelis.

Ponies was co-created by David Iserson and Susanna Fogel, who both served as executive producers. Iserson also worked as co-showrunner, while Fogel directed four of the series' eight episodes. Mike Daniels served as co-showrunner and executive producer.

Clarke was also credited as an executive producer in addition to starring in the series.