Emilia Clarke’s Spy Thriller Ponies Sets Premiere Date as First-Look Photos Drop

Peacock finally put a date on Ponies, its new Cold War spy thriller headlined by Emilia Clarke and Haley Lu Richardson. Yes, the title is odd. And yes, they explain it. More on that in a second.

What is Ponies?

Moscow, 1977. Two back-office nobodies at the U.S. Embassy — known in spy-speak as 'ponies,' short for 'persons of no interest' — get pulled into the deep end when their husbands die under murky circumstances in the USSR. Suddenly they are CIA. Bea is an over-educated, Russian-speaking daughter of Soviet immigrants. Twila is a small-town blunt instrument who does not spook easily. Together, they chase a sprawling Cold War plot while trying to figure out who made them widows.

That 'ponies' jargon is a choice, but it does tell you exactly what lane these two are in before the story kicks off: invisible, underestimated, and about to be very busy.

When it drops (and how long it is)

Ponies starts streaming January 15, 2026 on Peacock. It runs eight episodes.

Cast, creators, and who is doing what

• Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones) as Bea, the Russian-speaking overachiever turned operative
• Haley Lu Richardson (The White Lotus) as Twila, the fearless small-town secretary with sharp elbows
• Adrian Lester (The Sandman, The Day After Tomorrow) — plays a character named Dane
• Artjom Gilz (Tar, Das Boot)
• Nicholas Podany (Saturday Night, Hello Tomorrow)
• Petro Ninovskyi (Shttl, Silence)
• Vic Michaelis (Very Important People, Upload)
• Created, written, and executive produced by David Iserson (Mr. Robot, New Girl), who is also serving as showrunner
• Susanna Fogel (The Flight Attendant) directs and executive produces
• Executive producers also include Emilia Clarke, Mike Daniels (also credited as showrunner), Jessica Rhoades, Katherine Bridle, Alison Mo Massey, Jared Ian Goldman, and Rosa Handelman
• Produced by Universal Television

First look: what the photos show

Peacock shared the first official images, and they do more than just give us the wigs-and-winter-coats vibe. We get Emilia Clarke in character as Bea, a shot pairing Haley Lu Richardson’s Twila with Adrian Lester’s Dane, and another of Bea and Twila together. The captions tag two of them as Episode 103 and one as Episode 104, which suggests those dynamics get moving fairly early.

So, file this under 'slow-burn wait' — 2026 is not exactly tomorrow — but the premise is clean, the leads are strong, and the period angle plus that grim little hook (two secretaries turned spies because someone made them widows) has teeth.