[Editor’s note: The following contains major spoilers for Ponies.]
Key Insights
- The Peacock spy thriller series ‘Ponies’ features Bea and Twila transitioning from grieving widows to novice CIA agents in 1977 Moscow.
- The season finale reveals the mole, leading to chaos within the CIA as evidence is destroyed.
- Ray and Cheryl Szymaski’s tumultuous marriage conceals love and mistrust, hinting at a deeper mystery for Season 2.
The Peacock spy thriller series Ponies, set in 1977 Moscow, follows Bea (Emilia Clarke) and Twila (Haley Lu Richardson), two women whose husbands are killed under mysterious circumstances that lead them to become CIA operatives. Bea’s ability to charm and speak fluent Russian is a perfect complement to Twila’s fearless nature and street smarts, but their lack of experience while they’re learning on the job puts them in precariously dangerous situations. And if they’re going to have any chance at survival, they have to be able to trust the lead of the CIA’s spy division, Dane Walter (Adrian Lester), and his team.
As a member of that team, Ray Szymanski (Nicholas Podany) is Dane’s right-hand man while his wife Cheryl (Vic Michaelis) is a secretary for Shep (Andrew Richardson) at the embassy. But when Cheryl kills the nanny and is revealed to actually be the mole that everyone has been trying to hunt down, chaos and fire erupt at the CIA. What comes next will make for a very interesting Season 2, and I know my fingers are crossed that we’ll be hearing about a greenlight soon.
During this interview with Collider, Michaelis (Dropout TV, Very Important People) and Podany discussed their reactions to the way the season played out, how they view Ray and Cheryl’s marriage, getting to improvise and explore their characters together, that rooting for Cheryl’s success at villainy is just the most fun option, killing Eevi (Clare Hughes), how Ray might react to learning the truth about Cheryl, wanting to get out in the field more, what all of this could mean for a possible Season 2, and their most memorable moments with Clarke and Richardson. Michaelis also talked about whether Twila, Bea or Cheryl would make the best guest on Very Important People, and whether they tortured any of your castmates on set as much as Sam Reich.
Collider: First of all, congratulations on the series. It’s getting a lot of buzz and people, including myself, are hoping for a Season 2. If at all possible, I want to will that into existence after the way the season ended.
VIC MICHAELIS: I so appreciate you saying that. We’re really hoping so. Every little bit of goodwill into the universe helps.
You can’t leave it there. It’s just not fair. That would just be rude if you left it there.
MICHAELIS and NICHOLAS PODANY: (Both laugh)
Vic Michaelis Screamed on the Plane Trip To Shoot in Hungary While Reading the ‘Ponies’ Finale Script
“Truly, it was such a shock.”
Did you guys go into this knowing the full arc for your characters? How much did you know about where all of this was heading? Do you feel like you had any sense of where it would end up?
MICHAELIS: I signed on very late for this, so I got the scripts on the plane on the way to Hungary to begin filming. I was somewhere over the ocean, getting through the end of episode eight, and I screamed on the plane. Truly, it was such a shock in the best possible way. It’s an absolute dream character for me to get to come in and be a little bit mean but then also have a little bit of dramatic stuff to get to do and then also be the villain. It’s so fun.
PODANY: What’s amazing about that is just the fact that you found out that soon to filming. If you just watch the series back a second time and you watch Vic’s performance, you can see it. It’s brilliant. It’s so good on a second watch of going back through and going, “Aha!”
MICHAELIS: That’s really kind, but that’s the writing. Everything is there in the character already. It does logically make sense.
PODANY: A friend pointed out to me that you don’t like music. You say it gives you a headache when I turn it on because you don’t want music playing.
MICHAELIS: Yeah.
PODANY: My friend pointed that out to me.
MICHAELIS: I was so mad about the concert. I wanted to go to the concert.
PODANY: Yeah, it’s crazy.
‘Ponies’ Review: Emilia Clarke and Haley Lu Richardson Deliver a Gripping Spy Thriller With a Perfect Final Shot
Two unlikely spies navigate danger and betrayal in this wild ’70s-era series.
Vic, you’ve previously talked about how you think Cheryl thinks of herself as somebody that is powerful and holds weight in the world and has value to the people around her, but that that’s also not true. She sees herself in a way that doesn’t match her reality. How do you think she views who she is in her marriage?
MICHAELIS: I think she views herself as a literal perfect wife who has done absolutely everything and gone above and beyond for what she is expected to do, especially in Moscow, where you can’t go to the salon and none of those things are accessible to you. She’s in new outfits all the time, and I think she views that as her wifely duty. I really think that she thinks that a lot of being a wife is about the aesthetic and doing wifely duties, and I think she performs those exactly as expected. She fills and checks every single box with her little gel pen. It’s that space between realizing that there are other things that you can’t necessarily quantify that go into a relationship and realizing that you have to continue building, and you have to earn those things. A lot of that space is where current unhappiness is coming from from Cheryl’s perspective. I’d be so curious what you think, Nick, on that.
PODANY: I think we as a marriage are so comfortable in arguments and disagreements. That’s how life works and how our marriage is. I would so much rather be content in that than rock the boat and risk any kind of discomfort in my personal life, especially because Ray’s job is so deeply uncomfortable for who he is as a person. I think having a very stable place to come home is what he wants most. If it’s Cheryl being mad at him all the time, then that’s what it is, and that’s okay by him. I think he’s a very lost guy who needs to stay present in his situation because otherwise, the entire Jenga tower would just topple.
‘Ponies’ Co-Stars Nicholas Podany and Vic Michaelis Believe That Ray and Cheryl Really Do Love Each Other
“There is some love liquid there underneath it all.”
What did both of you enjoy most about finding and exploring your characters’ relationship? What was great about having each other during this process?
PODANY: When I first read this script, I thought “How will this character ever work?” regarding Cheryl because she didn’t seem to have any redeeming qualities.” Then at our first table read, everything clicked immediately. I realized she was an icon—a housewife diva whom audiences root for because she feels unjustly treated.” During our first day shooting at the Christmas party scene, Vic dove into improvisation right away—every take brought something new while getting under Ray’s skin which made my job easier since all I had to do was smile or laugh at her antics—it was brilliant what Vic brought both character-wise and energy-wise on set.
MICHAELIS: That’s not true at all but thank you! We had an enlightening conversation early on which laid groundwork moving forward.I genuinely believe these two love each other but are lost when it comes to communicating their feelings anymore.This status quo holds them back from fully realizing their potential together—there’s an underlying affection beneath everything that’s beautiful.
PODANY: They could benefit from therapy over five years—they have fleeting moments throughout where we see glimpses of their connection which were my favorite scenes.
MICHAELIS: It was great—absolutely amazing.
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Ponies is available for streaming on Peacock.
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