Ponies Brings Cold War Intrigue to Sky This May

Image: Sky TV Press

By Jon Donnis

A sharp chill runs through Sky’s May line up with the arrival of Ponies, a new espionage thriller that leans into paranoia, grief, and quiet reinvention. Set against the tense backdrop of 1970s Moscow, the series lands in full on 22 May, with every episode available at once on Sky and NOW across the UK and Ireland. At its centre are two women who begin as invisible figures in the machinery of diplomacy, only to find themselves pulled into something far more dangerous.

Emilia Clarke plays Bea, a highly educated Russian speaker shaped by her family’s Soviet roots, while Haley Lu Richardson takes on Twila, a blunt and fearless outsider with little patience for niceties. Both start as secretaries in the American Embassy, dismissed as what intelligence circles call ‘persons of no interest’. That label does not last. When their husbands are killed under murky circumstances, the pair are drawn into the world of CIA operations, forced to navigate a system that never expected them to matter.

The show leans into that shift in identity. What begins as quiet administrative work turns into something far more precarious, with Bea and Twila stepping into roles that demand instinct, resilience, and a willingness to question everything around them. Their partnership sits at the heart of the story, a clash of backgrounds and temperaments that gradually hardens into something dependable, if never entirely comfortable.

There is a wider conspiracy lurking beneath their personal loss, rooted firmly in the anxieties of the Cold War. Moscow in 1977 is not just a setting but a pressure cooker, where suspicion hangs in the air and every move carries weight. The series promises a slow uncovering of truths, as the two women try to piece together not just who killed their husbands, but why.

Supporting performances come from Adrian Lester, Artjom Gilz, Nicholas Podany, Petro Ninovskyi and Vic Michaelis, each adding to a cast that reflects the layered, international nature of the story. Together, they help build a world where allegiances are never clear and trust is always in short supply.

Ponies looks set to balance personal drama with the mechanics of espionage, grounding its story in character as much as in conspiracy. It is a tale of people overlooked, then forced into the spotlight, and what happens when they realise just how much they are capable of.