Peacock has canceled the Cold War spy thriller “Ponies” after just one season, Variety has learned.
Starring Emilia Clarke and Haley Lu Richardson, the series originally debuted its entire eight-episode first season on Peacock on Jan. 15.
It received mostly positive reviews from critics, with the series holding a 94% critical approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Peacock does not regularly release ratings information for its programs, so judging exactly how “Ponies” performed relative to other titles is difficult. However, it failed to make an appearance on the Nielsen streaming top 10 charts following its release.
Along with Clarke and Richardson, the cast included Adrian Lester, Artjom Gilz, Nicholas Podany, Petro Ninovskyi, and Vic Michaelis.
“Moscow, 1977. Two ‘PONIES’ (‘persons of no interest’ in intelligence speak) work anonymously as secretaries in the American Embassy. That is until their husbands are killed under mysterious circumstances in the USSR, and the pair become CIA operatives. Bea (Clarke) is an over-educated, Russian-speaking child of Soviet immigrants. Her cohort, Twila (Richardson), is a small-town girl who is as abrasive as she is fearless. Together, they work to uncover a vast Cold War conspiracy and solve the mystery that made them widows in the first place.”
“Ponies” was co-created by David Iserson and Susanna Fogel. Both also served as executive producers, with Iserson also serving as co-showrunner and Fogel directing four of the eight episodes. Mike Daniels was also co-showrunner and an executive producer. Clarke executive produced in addition to starring, with Jessica Rhoades also executive producing. Katherine Bridle, Alison Mo Massey, Jared Ian Goldman, and Rosa Handelman were co-executive producers. The series was produced by Universal Television.
