Inside Ponies: Artjom Gilz & Petro Ninovskyi on Villains, Moles, and Playing Both Sides

Reel Perspectives

February 2nd, 2026

Courtesy of Peacock

The actors behind Andrei Vasiliev and Sasha Shevchenko unpack Cold War power plays, dangerous intimacy, and what it means to survive when trust is always compromised in Peacock’s Ponies.

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We learn how villains are made — and how moles survive

That tension was front and center when we sat down with Artjom Gilz, who plays Andrei Vasiliev, and Petro Ninovskyi, who steps into the role of Sasha Shevchenko. On opposite sides of the Cold War chessboard, their characters embody two very different kinds of danger: the one enforcing the system… and the one quietly undermining it from within.

Petro Ninovskyi’s Sasha is a Ukrainian technician working with top-secret Soviet technology who becomes a CIA informant following his sister’s death. A lover of romance novels and American pop culture, Sasha is drawn to Bea Grant (Emilia Clarke), forming a connection that feels tender — and incredibly risky — in a world where intimacy can be fatal, especially for a character who, as Ninovskyi reveals, was never originally meant to make it to the end of the season.

Meanwhile, Artjom Gilz’s Andrei Vasiliev is the show’s sharpest edge: a dangerous, ambitious KGB officer with a rock-star swagger and an appetite for power. Described as the villain of Ponies, Andrei’s involvement with Bea adds another volatile layer to a series already built on mistrust, manipulation, and surveillance.

In our exclusive conversation, we get into whether Petro can officially add kompromat tape expert to his résumé, whether Artjom clocked the finale’s twist before it landed, how Sasha’s survival reshaped his arc, and what both actors hope to explore if Ponies returns for a second season.

Because in Ponies, it’s not just about who’s watching — it’s about who’s already listening.

Watch our interview with the Ponies standouts below:

Into spy games and double agents? Catch up on all episodes of Ponies, now streaming on Peacock.