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Peacock Cancels Spy Drama “Ponies” After One Season, 94% Rating

6/24/2026

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Summary

Peacock Cancels Ponies

Peacock canceled the spy drama Ponies after one season.
Ponies premiered its eight-episode first season on Jan. 15, 2026, releasing all episodes simultaneously.
The series earned a 94% Rotten Tomatoes rating but did not appear in Nielsen’s top-10 streaming chart.
Set in 1977 Moscow, the show stars Emilia Clarke as Bea and Haley Lu Richardson as Twila, and was co-created by Susanna Fogel and David Iserson, with Fogel directing four episodes.

Summary

Peacock Misses Top-10

The series failed to enter the Nielsen streaming top-10 chart after its January 2026 debut.
Its debut coincided with new weekly episodes of Prime Video’s Fallout and the Netflix Stranger Things finale, which dominated viewership.
Peacock’s reality series The Traitors logged over 892 million minutes streamed that week, outpacing Ponies.
Fans on X voiced frustration, saying the show pushed them to subscribe to Peacock.

History

Historical Context

Netflix launched House of Cards on February 1 2013, becoming the first streaming-only series to earn Primetime Emmy nominations (July 18 2013) and win three Emmys (September 22 2013). Its success proved original online drama could rival broadcast TV, prompting rivals such as NBCUniversal’s Peacock to invest heavily in exclusive titles like the 2026 spy drama Ponies, though critical praise alone did not secure top-10 Nielsen ratings.

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Peacock Cancels Ponies

Peacock canceled the spy drama Ponies after one season.
Ponies premiered its eight-episode first season on Jan. 15, 2026, releasing all episodes simultaneously.
The series earned a 94% Rotten Tomatoes rating but did not appear in Nielsen’s top-10 streaming chart.
Set in 1977 Moscow, the show stars Emilia Clarke as Bea and Haley Lu Richardson as Twila, and was co-created by Susanna Fogel and David Iserson, with Fogel directing four episodes.

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