Right now, a new crime thriller is taking over Netflix. Per FlixPatrol, the British series Legends, which released earlier this month on May 7, 2026, is #6 worldwide, and has quickly become a major hit on the platform. So far, the series, which is based on the true biographical account by Guy Stanton in his book, The Betrayer: How an Undercover Unit Infiltrated the Global Drug Trade, is all about a group of British Customs employees who are tasked with going undercover and infiltrating a dangerous drug ring.
Set in the 90s, the series has the benefit of being an action-packed, suspenseful drama, all while carrying historical weight and authenticity. Luckily, those are also two of the main features of another newly released undercover series on Peacock. Ponies, which premiered on January 15, 2026, tells another riveting spy mission, and it’s the perfect replacement series for when Legends‘ six episodes come to an end.
What Is ‘Ponies’ About?
Set during the Cold War in Moscow in 1977, Ponies follows Beatrice “Bea” Russell (Emilia Clarke) and Twila Harding (Haley Lu Richardson), two American embassy wives living quietly inside a rigid system in the USSR. While intelligence jargon labels them as “persons of no interest,” aka “ponies,” the pair function as unofficial employees of the U.S. government, filing paperwork, attending parties, and observing everything and everyone around them. Not even 20 minutes into the first episode, their lives take a turn when their respective husbands, Chris (LouisBoyer) and Tom (JohnMacmillian), die under suspicious circumstances.
Following their deaths, the CIA (alongside Director George H.W. Bush, played by PatrickFabian) pushes Bea and Twila to become “spies” working under CIA Moscow station handlers, Dane (AdrianLester) and Ray (NicholasPodany). What then follows is these two women, with different backgrounds, attitudes and skills, in a search for answers, not only to find out what happened to their husbands, but to fulfill their assignments and prove themselves in the oppressive environment around them. While Bea is over-educated, fluent in Russian and an adamant rule-follower, Twilla is overly confident, fearless, and outspoken, and that’s exactly what makes their dynamic onscreen so special.
Collider Exclusive · Action Hero Quiz Which Action Hero Would Be Your Perfect Partner? Rambo · James Bond · Indiana Jones · John McClane · Ethan Hunt
Five legends. Five completely different ways of getting out alive — with style, with muscle, with charm, with luck, or with a plan so intricate it probably shouldn’t work. Ten questions will reveal which action hero was built to have your back.
🎖️Rambo
🍸James Bond
🏺Indiana Jones
🔧John McClane
🎭Ethan Hunt
01
You’re dropped into a dangerous situation with no warning. What do you need most from a partner? The first few seconds tell you everything about who belongs beside you.
02
You have to get somewhere dangerous, fast. How do you travel? How you get there is half the mission.
03
You’re pinned down and outnumbered. What does your ideal partner do? This is when you find out what someone is really made of.
04
The mission is paused. You have one evening to decompress. What does your partner suggest? Who someone is when the pressure drops is who they actually are.
05
How do you prefer your partner to communicate mid-mission? Good communication is the difference between partners and a liability.
06
Your enemy is powerful, well-resourced, and has the upper hand. How should your partner approach them? The approach to the enemy defines the partnership.
07
Things go badly wrong and you’re captured. What do you trust your partner to do? Who someone is when you need them most is the only thing that matters.
08
What does your ideal partner bring to the table that you couldn’t replace? A great partner fills the gap you didn’t know you had.
09
Every partnership has a cost. Which of these can you live with? No one comes without baggage. The question is whether you can carry it together.
10
It’s the final moment. Everything is on the line. What do you need from your partner right now? The last question is the most honest one.
Your Partner Has Been Assigned Your Perfect Partner Is…
Your answers have pointed to one action hero above all others. This is the person built to have your back — for better or considerably, spectacularly worse.
Rambo
Your partner doesn’t talk much, doesn’t need to, and will have assessed every threat in your immediate environment before you’ve finished your first sentence. John Rambo is not a man of plans or politics — he is a force of nature shaped by survival, loyalty, and a capacity for endurance that goes beyond anything training can produce. He will not leave you behind. He has never left anyone behind who deserved to come home. What you get with Rambo is the most capable, most quietly ferocious partner imaginable — one who has been through things that would have broken anyone else, and who chose to keep going anyway. You’ll never need to ask if he has your back. You’ll just know.
James Bond
Your partner will arrive perfectly dressed, perfectly briefed, and with a cover story so convincing it’ll take you a moment to remember what’s actually true. James Bond is the most professionally dangerous person in any room he enters — and the most disarmingly charming, which is the point. He operates in a world of layers, where nothing is what it appears and every advantage is used without apology. You’ll never be bored. You’ll occasionally be furious. But when it matters — when the mission is genuinely on the line and the margin for error has collapsed to nothing — Bond is exactly the partner you want. He has survived things that have no business being survivable. He does it with style. That is not nothing.
Indiana Jones
Your partner will know the history, the language, the cultural context, and exactly why the thing everyone else is ignoring is actually the most important thing in the room. Indiana Jones is brilliant, reckless, and occasionally impossible — but he is also one of the most resourceful, most genuinely knowledgeable partners you could find yourself beside. He approaches every situation with a scholar’s eye and a brawler’s instinct, which is an unusual combination and a remarkably effective one. He hates snakes and gets personally attached to objects of historical significance, both of which will slow you down at least once. It doesn’t matter. What Indy brings is irreplaceable — and the adventures you’ll have together will be the kind people write books about. Assuming you survive them.
John McClane
Your partner was not supposed to be here. He does not have the right equipment, the right information, or anything approaching the right odds. He has a sarcastic remark and an absolute refusal to accept that the situation is as bad as it looks. John McClane is the greatest accidental hero in the history of action cinema — a man whose superpower is stubbornness, whose contingency plan is improvisation, and whose capacity to absorb punishment and keep moving would be alarming if it weren’t so useful. He will complain the entire time. He will make it significantly more chaotic than it needed to be. And he will absolutely, unconditionally, without question come through when it counts. Yippee-ki-yay.
Ethan Hunt
Your partner has already run seventeen scenarios by the time you’ve finished reading the briefing, and the plan he’s settled on involves at least two things that should be physically impossible. Ethan Hunt operates at the absolute edge of human capability — technically, physically, and intellectually — and he brings the same relentless precision to protecting his partners that he brings to dismantling organisations that shouldn’t exist. He is not easy to know and he will never fully tell you everything. But he will carry the weight of the mission so completely, so absolutely, that your job is simply to trust him — and the remarkable thing is that trusting him always turns out to be the right call. The mission will be impossible. He will complete it anyway.
‘Ponies’ Is a Riveting Spy Drama With a Twist
While both Legends and Ponies tell stories about undercover agents infiltrating a system much larger than themselves, both shows are certainly distinct. With the ’70s setting alone, Ponies takes viewers on a ride filled with fabulous hair, massive bell-bottoms, and a society too accustomed to seeing women as nothing more than housewives. What makes the series stand out, however, is that in addition to their mission, the series is all about the earned friendship between Bea and Twila. According to Collider’s very own Tania Hussain in her review, Clarke and Richardson’s performances are “electric” onscreen, with the Game of Thrones alum anchoring “the show’s real stakes, keeping us on the edge of our seats for her sake.” “In contrast, Richardson’s Twila arrives with a completely different energy,” the review continued. “There is a looseness to her movements, as seen with her carefree walk and the way she occupies space without apologizing to anyone.”
It’s Cold War spycraft in bell-bottoms, and it’s a whole vibe!
On Rotten Tomatoes, the series has earned an impressive 96% from critics, interestingly the same score held by Legends. Among the reviews, critics praised the series for being much more than a classic spy thriller, and telling a story about women regaining control and agency over their lives. “Ponies creates a world in which a woman can stand up and assert her right to exist,” wrote one review. By doing so, the series, created by Susanna Fogel and David Iserson, is much more than thrilling TV, and serves as a glimpse into second wave feminism and women’s rights as well.
With all that said, while Legends has been winning over fans on Netflix lately, its limited six-episode season will likely have viewers hoping for more. If so, they should certainly move over to Peacock and give Ponies a try. With a different setting, story, and even overall tone, the shows are certainly distinct, but both tell critically acclaimed stories of newbie agents going undercover and being challenged like never before.
