Peacock Just Cancelled Hit 94% RT Series That Ended on a Cliffhanger

June 23, 2026, 2:07pm

In the age of streaming, fans shouldn’t be surprised when a show gets cancelled after one season. Not because any of them deserve it, in truth that’s almost never it, but simply because it happens so frequently. Just last week, Netflix gave the axe to The Buroughs after one season, despite originally considering a two-season renewal. Even worse than the cancellation of shows now after just one batch of episodes is when the series ends on a cliffhanger, with fans that tuned in desperate for the next piece of the story. This week that honor belongs to Peacock, which has cancelled one of their hit shows despite no resolution at the ending.

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According to a new report from Variety, Peacock has officially cancelled the spy-thriller series Ponies after just one season. This news is especially shocking not only because of who starred in the show, with Game of Thrones‘ Emilia Clarke and The White Lotus’ Haley Lu Richardson paired together, but because it was a critical hit. As of this writing, Ponies has a 94% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes with over 30 reviews added for the show. On top of that, Ponies had a devious ending, leaving on a cliffhanger that left its two characters’ fates up in the air.

Peacock Cancels Ponies Despite Cliffhanger Ending

What makes the cliffhanger ending to Ponies sting extra hard for the fans that actually watched the show isn’t just the lingering potential of what will happen next in the story; it’s what the series had already so successfully built. Central to the entire show is the relationship between Clarke’s Bea and Richardson’s Twila, both secretaries working in the American Embassy in Moscow in the 1970s. After their husbands are both killed, the pair are tasked with working for the CIA, developing a friendship and rapport across the series and coming into their own.

Perhaps one reason is that the title didn’t make sense to newcomers, with “PONIES” actually being an acronym for “persons of no interest.” It’s not only the label put on the characters, but it’s why their relationship was not only something worth watching but the clear foundation for more stories. They proved the system wrong by not only working together and becoming great spies, but now, it’s just over.

The reality of why Ponies was cancelled is almost certainly a viewership one. Though Peacock doesn’t release data for its original shows like Netflix, it’s worth noting that Ponies never appeared on the Nielsen streaming charts once since it debuted in back in January. All eight episodes of the show premiered at once back in the first month of the year, and though one might think that would be a slow time of the year, the truth is Ponies had major competition.

At the time Ponies premiered, not only were new episodes of Fallout airing on Prime Video every week, but it was just two weeks after the series finale of Stranger Things had debuted on Netflix. As a result, both of those genre shows were eating up the charts, as well as the attention of fans. In addition, Netflix’s His & Hers was the top show at the time, but the service also made headlines by streaming a show previously a Hulu original, the Stephen King adaptation 11.22.63, which also charted.

Even worse, Ponies was outdone by another show on Peacock, the series that may well be their biggest hit, The Traitors. Since the US version of this reality series premiered on Peacock, it has been one of their most consistent shows on the platform, with over 892 million minutes streamed in the week that Ponies premiered.

It’s worth noting that the potential does exist for another streamer to come along and save Ponies, as we’ve seen happen in the past, but the truth is that this has become pretty rare in the streaming era. That said, the show is still worth watching for anyone who hasn’t shown up yet, even if you know that the ending stops where it does with no more episodes to come.