A lengthy interview with the New York Times made headlines yesterday as former Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke laid into the horrible ending for her character in the finale of the series. But that interview was mainly about promoting something else, her new Peacock series, Ponies. And it’s a lot better than the last season of Game of Thrones (I mean, what isn’t).
Clarke stars opposite The White Lotus’ Haley Lu Richardson with Ponies co-created by David Iserson, a former producer/writer on series like Mr. Robot and Mad Men. His fellow co-creator is Susanna Fogel who produced The Wilds and The Flight Attendant. And Ponies? It’s reviewing very well with a 92% on Rotten Tomatoes from critics so far. The show is out today, dropped as an eight episode binge. Here’s the synopsis of the series:
“In 1977 Moscow, two “PONIES” (“persons of no interest” in intelligence speak) work anonymously as secretaries in the American Embassy. That is, until their husbands die under mysterious circumstances in the Soviet Union, and they are thrust into the CIA. Bea Grant is sharp, over-educated and fluent in Russian — a child of Russian immigrants, trying to make sense of a life that hasn’t turned out the way she expected. Twila Hasbeck is a small-town firecracker: abrasive, bold and more fearless than she should be. Thrown together by grief and circumstance, the two dig into the vast conspiracy their husbands were killed for.”
Ponies marks Emilia Clarke’s highest-profile acting role since 2023’s Secret Invasion, the disastrous MCU series starring Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury in which her Skrull character ended up with almost every hero and villain combined from the universe. That should have made her the most powerful person in the MCU and…she will never be seen again. Not her fault, but the entire thing was a disaster.
Richardson, meanwhile, rose to prominence with her role in The White Lotus season 2 as portia. She recently starred in Love at First Sight, and is also in the wild sci-fi film Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die, which also features Sam Rockwell, Zazie Beetz, Juno Temple and more. That film amassed at 94% Rotten Tomatoes score, and Richardson is clearly a rising star. One of the highest points of praise is the chemistry between Richardson and Clarke. Per Collider:
“With compelling writing and striking performances, Ponies never loses sight of the grounded chemistry between its leads, making it one of the most impressive new shows of 2026.”
It can be a little hard to make a significant impact on Peacock, which has a smaller footprint that almost every other major streaming service. That’s a bit of a bummer as it does produce solid shows like The Traitors and its two-season Twisted Metal show is one of the best live-action video game adaptations I’ve ever seen, somehow.
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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.