Ponies, starring Emilia Clarke and Haley Lu Richardson, is one of the best reviewed series of the year and following its stellar debut last month, we caught up with stars Artjom Gilz ("Andrei Vasiliev") and Petro Ninovskyi ("Sasha Shevchenko") to break down some of the show's biggest twists and turns and what it's really like getting involved in the spy game.
In the series, the pair have an antagonistic relationship, with Gilz playing the show's primary villain and Ninovskyi playing a young man trying to do what's right. While breaking down their dynamic, they also get into one of the show's biggest reveals, what it was like working with leading lady Emilia Clarke, their hopes for a second season, and a whole lot more!
The cast features Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones; Secret Invasion), Haley Lu Richardson (The White Lotus; Five Feet Apart), Adrian Lester (Hustle; Mary Queen of Scots), Artjom Gilz (Dogs of Berlin), Vic Michaelis (Very Important People; Dropout), Nicholas Podany (Hello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between), Petro Ninovskyi (Jack Ryan).
Ponies is now streaming, exclusively on Peacock!
Watch our full chat below and/or keep scrolling to read the full transcription. Plus, remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more exclusive content!
ROHAN: When you first read the script for Ponies, what was the immediate hook for you—was it the genre, the world of espionage, or something specific about your characters?
ARTJOM: I think, for me, it was the ‘70s, like shooting a period piece, and then, yeah, like getting into espionage and then, reading for Andrei, obviously, like, yeah, the massive, I don't know, depth of this character.
PETRO: I guess, for me, honestly, it was lots of great and interesting scenes, and the ability to play in it, and the ability to create an interesting arc of the character. The script was providing that already, so I was very happy to, you know, and just take it and play with it, and, obviously, the cast and just the incredible team around the script, honestly, that was making it compelling. And when I finished reading the script, I was quite happy with the way it was just, you know, misleading me, or something like that, or all those twists, and I wasn't very familiar with the espionage genre before, so I didn't know that, you know, the person who dies in the first episode comes back in the last episode. So, you know, I was quite surprised with all of those turns.
ROHAN: Artjom, how would you describe playing your character’s public face versus who he really is underneath? And, how much fun did you have playing the villain?
ARTJOM: I mean, it was a lot of fun, because, I mean, it really is, because you can just move through, you know, space and through rooms and do whatever you like, I mean, obviously, no, but it is. It's like, not in every scene, because, I guess you said in public functions, and like, when he talks to his superiors, he obviously can’t, so there's limits to that, but in the majority of the scenes, he can just, like, be and do whatever, and that is quite liberating. And I don't think we get to do that quite a lot. And I feel like, just because, like, I've never played a character like that, that is like, so far from me, that was like, something that really, really pulled me to playing him as well.
ROHAN: Petro, your character often feels like he’s operating on a different wavelength—what do you think motivates him most: survival, loyalty, or revenge?
PETRO: Yeah, it's such a great thing that Artjom just said about playing a liberating character, you know, he could do anything he wanted basically. I think, in my case, there was a very strong reason and a very strong belief that he had and why he was doing all what he was doing. He was doing it for his family, for his sister. And so, like having this very strong reason to do certain things actually motivated him so much that was so easy to actually do it as an actor, because there was a such a strong character reason or motivation or background story, and so like, super easy to play with it, and liberating in a way, as well. And but, yeah, all those solo missions were something that was also very compelling to me, because I loved just being, you know, being alone. And I love being alone in his apartment and just reading his book, and it's cozy, kind of, you know, Soviet, old apartment, reading his book in his bath. You know, this character that just spends a lot of time on his own, and I think he has a lot of time to think things over, and I think that's where he lives, pretty much, you know, in his head. And like, speaking with himself and speaking through his thoughts and going through his memories and all that stuff. That was something very interesting to play with.
ROHAN: You both get to work with Emilia Clarke, who by all accounts is pretty awesome - what was your experience working with her and playing out the different dynamics your respective characters have with her character Bea?
ARTJOM: I mean, Emilia, obviously, is an incredible actor. And just, as you said, like having to navigate within those two roles shows her range and her incredible ability. But I would also say that she's just a lovely, lovely and incredible human being. I mean, also an executive producer on the show, she was very caring, you know, always chatting to us, even though her workload was astronomical, like having to learn Russian, being in almost every scene. I was really impressed with her, and I was really grateful to have her there.
PETRO: I can only second that, or rather third in this triangle. *laughts* She's a super giving human being, giving actor. So it's made my job so much easier, because my character was supposed to be a very empathetic character, and she just brought it to an extreme. And, so it was very, actually easy to win her over from Artjom’s character. You know what I mean, Artjom? *laughs*
ARTJOM: Oh man, let’s see about that brother! *laughs*
PETRO: Because we all know who the villain is, and, you know, yes, there is some kind of, you know, something that attracts us to villains, but most people just like nice guys.
ARTJOM: It's true, it's true, it's true.
PETRO: That’s who Sasha is, he has a big heart. He's willing to sacrifice himself. He's willing to do what it takes.
ARTJOM: Well, a big bleeding heart.
PETRO: Oh, my god! That’s a low blow! *laughs*
ROHAN: Your characters also share an interesting antagonistic dynamic, was there anything you two did prior to filming that helped develop this comfort level with one another that translated to screen?
ARTJOM: I feel like we had a great time. I mean, we spent six months together in Budapest, which does, I mean, it does a lot to you if you spend like half a year with people, especially with people that are all incredibly nice and talented. And I know it's like really easy to say that, but it really was like an incredible time. It was was so much fun because everybody was so so lovely, so the chemistry that you spoke of, that you see here, I feel like that was there, like, fairly early on, from the beginning, and was more and more established and strengthened over the course of those six months, you know, like with various parties, and working together, and etc, etc.
PETRO: I think it wasn’t complicated to establish some kind of, you know, great dynamic with Artjom, because he's a very kind human being. I remember meeting him for the first time on set before shooting, we were doing hair tests, I guess, or something, or costume testing, or something. And this curly, curly, curly guy is there, so we just had a great laugh and he was so kind. And then the second day, I guess, we had the scene of the first encounter where he's just like being menacing, smoking cigarettes in my face and taking. So, it was actually, you know, it's quite a quick jump, but, at same time, I didn't feel like we weren't bonded or weren't connected, even though the characters are not connected, but I think it's very important when actors are actually having a great dynamic and are comfortable working with each other. I guess it was always like that with Artjom. So thank you so much for doing that.
ARTJOM: Always brother, thank you.
Moscow, 1977. Two “PONIES” ("persons of no interest" in intelligence speak) work anonymously as secretaries in the American Embassy. That is until their husbands are killed under mysterious circumstances in the USSR, and the pair become CIA operatives. Bea (Emilia Clarke) is an over-educated, Russian-speaking child of Soviet immigrants. Her cohort, Twila (Haley Lu Richardson), is a small-town girl who is as abrasive as she is fearless. Together, they work to uncover a vast Cold War conspiracy and solve the mystery that made them widows in the first place.