Peacock’s upcoming espionage thriller, Ponies, has cast Haley Lu Richardson (The White Lotus) opposite Emilia Clarke in a series regular role. She will portray Twila, a small-town girl who is as abrasive as she is fearless.

Set in Moscow in 1977, the series follows two Ponies (“persons of no interest” in intelligence speak) who 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 (Clarke) is an over-educated, Russian-speaking child of Soviet immigrants. Alongside her cohort, Twila, they work to uncover a vast Cold War conspiracy and solve the mystery that made them widows in the first place.

Susanna Fogel serves as executive producer, director, and co-writer alongside executive producer and co-writer David Iserson and executive producer Mike Daniels.

Ponies was co-created by Fogel and Iserson. Iserson and Daniels will serve as showrunners. Executive producers are Emilia Clarke and Jessica Rhoades via her Pacesetter Productions. Pacesetter EVP Alison Mo Massey will co-ep alongside Katherine Bridle. The series is produced by Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group.

Richardson is represented by Gersh and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern.