Vic Michaelis may have gained notoriety for her Dropout TV show, *Very Important People*, but she earned something even more invaluable from *Ponies*: the ability to poorly speak Russian.
Sitting down with DECIDER to talk about her twisty role as Cheryl Szymanski—the wife of a CIA analyst in Moscow and a coworker at the US Embassy to Bea (Emilia Clarke) and Twila (Haley Lu Richardson)—Michaelis opened up about having to seamlessly deliver her lines at the end of the first season.
**Spoiler alert:** after seven episodes of a secret mole evading the CIA, it is revealed that Cheryl is the one inside the organization who has been working with the Russians. Her role is confirmed in a scene from the finale that shows her kissing a KGB officer in an underground tunnel and plotting, in Russian, to leave a loaded device inside the Embassy offices.
Being the villain? No problem for Michaelis. Speaking Russian? That’s another situation.
> “I was so cocky. I was so confident,” Michaelis told DECIDER. “I’m like, ‘I’ve got six lines, this is going to be totally fine.’ Fabian, our wonderful, very patient, very kind dialect coach, admitted to me that I was maybe one of the least gifted natural Russian speakers that he had ever heard. Unless they want to cast me on next season in *Heated Rivalry*, in which case he said I was great and actually I was fantastic.”
As for how she found out about her character’s turn to the dark side (it happened as she was flying over the Atlantic on her way to film), where the cast is at with Season 2, and which of her co-stars she would want to welcome onto *Very Important People* in a future season, check out DECIDER’s full interview with Michaelis below.
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### On Working with the Cast
I spoke with Nicholas yesterday, and I asked him about working with you. Here’s the quote: “Vic Michaelis is a monster.” I’m going to allow you to respond to his claims.
**VIC MICHAELIS:**
I think that explains it. I would say werewolf more than monster; it’s sort of like a full moon type situation for me. But, you know, if he wants to go with that—monster—then I feel okay about that.
Seriously, what was it like stepping into this cast, working with Haley, Emilia, Nicholas?
It was an absolute dream. Everybody is so unbelievably kind. We also had a lot of folks that would fly in from the UK, like Clare Hughes who played Eevi the nanny, and there really wasn’t anybody that wasn’t a great hang in the group. But my experience filming *Ponies* is that, from Cheryl’s perspective, it’s a quaint family drama right until the end.
Largely on set, it was just me, Nick, and Clare dealing with the inner family turmoil. It was so funny to watch the first episode and be like, “Oh right, there’s car chases and bombs and fires,” and I’m not really a part of that until you get a little later on.
The cast is incredible. Harriet Walter—I didn’t cross paths with her even one day—but seeing her performance on set, I was so jealous. I was seething with envy.
With Cheryl, Ray, and Eevi stuff, I feel you’re one good TikTok edit away from this being like a Dick Van Dyke laugh track situation.
Cheryl, I think, is vindicated in all of her decisions. She is not making decisions that I would make, per se, but I can see how she got from A to B to C.
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### On Playing Cheryl and Finding Out About Her Arc
**Talk to me about how the show came to you and what interested you about Cheryl.**
Maybe it’s because I’ve got a large background in improv, and I think when I’m thinking about characters, I often like thinking of comedic contrast and status.
For me, one of my absolute favorite things to play is characters that think they are very high status but don’t actually have any power. A lot of the comedy comes from the space in between where they are and where they want to be or where they think they are. Cheryl really falls into that category. She thinks and desperately wants to be more important than she is, and it eats her up inside.
She is in a very similar position to Bea and Twila, but without the trust of Dane taking a chance on them. Cheryl doesn’t have that opportunity, so she creates it for herself.
**Were you at all briefed on where Cheryl’s storyline would go?**
I did not. I found out while reading the scripts. I had a tight turnaround—it was essentially a week. I was on tour on the East Coast when I found out I booked it, literally packed everything up, and moved to Hungary on a week’s notice.
I was reading these scripts on the plane, literally over the ocean, finding out who Cheryl was and what her deal was. It was a dream. It’s literally a dream to get to play a fun, kind of mean-funny bully character who’s got strong convictions.
And then to get to be the villain at the end? It truly is a dream come true. And to get the fun outfits—how often does that happen?
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### On Learning Russian
I’m sure you’re also, like, flying over the Atlantic and downloading Duolingo, “Guess I have to learn a little Russian now.”
I was so cocky. I was so confident. I looked at my lines compared to, especially because Emilia waxes poetic in Russian—she literally learned the entire language.
I was watching interviews about Connor Storrie learning Russian for *Heated Rivalry*; it was a very similar situation with Emilia. She was doing full Russian classes in between her full workdays. And so I’m like, “I’ve got six lines, this is going to be totally fine.”
Fabian, our wonderful, very patient, very kind dialect coach, admitted to me that I was maybe one of the least gifted natural Russian speakers that he had ever heard. Unless they want to cast me on next season in *Heated Rivalry*, in which case he said I was great and actually I was fantastic.
I’m not saying they have to; I’m saying if they wanted to, I actually was the best that they’d ever heard.
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### On Reacting to Cheryl’s Twist
Back to *Ponies*, after finding out the twist, how did you react? Was there nervousness about playing that angle?
I was thrilled. It’s really interesting—if you look at the groundwork of the script, David [Iverson] and Susanna [Fogel] are so brilliant. That writing team has laid everything out from the very beginning. They literally spell out the whole plot and ethos of the show, which is that the women in this situation are deeply underestimated.
If you go back and rewatch it knowing what’s going to happen, it’s like, “Oh yeah, obviously Cheryl is the mole.”
She’s going to the scene of the crime, asking, “Who do you think the mole is?” And everybody’s like, “I don’t know, why are you asking us about this?” And she’s like, “No reason.” It’s just all laid out there; it’s beautiful.
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### On Cheryl’s Backstory and Motivation
We’re maybe getting into spoilery potential for Season 2, but have they talked to you about the backstory of how Cheryl came to be this way?
David talked a lot about the reasons why people do work like this, and one of the big reasons is ego.
For Cheryl, she is somebody who really believes she can do more. I think she really thought that Ray was going to do this CIA thing for a little bit until he had just enough credits on his résumé to be a senator—and then she was going to get to be Jackie O.
It just hasn’t panned out that way. The mediocrity is eating her alive because she is so deeply driven. I think she is empathetic, even though she does sort of kill someone at the end.
She’s a lovable villain, too.
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### On Audience Reactions and Playing “Bad” Characters
Perhaps this is just me being a *VIP* fan, but I was like, “Am I supposed to hate Cheryl?”
We all get to be a little bad, right?
The point of *Very Important People* was me priming people on playing bad guys for the rest of time, and then people going, “Well, I don’t know, it’s kind of fun. It’s kind of okay.”
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### On Potential Crossovers Between *Ponies* and *Very Important People*
I know you traditionally only do comedies, but do you think we might get to see any of your *Ponies* cast mates on *Very Important People* anytime soon?
Listen, if any of them want to do it, I’d have them in a heartbeat. I don’t know—Nick, I think he should be on *Very Important People* or at the very least behind the scenes.
I think Haley would be great. I would love Paul [Chahidi], who was one of the men in the office. He also was in this very famous production of *Twelfth Night* years ago that transferred to Broadway from the West End.
Conversely, somebody from Dropout who you think would fit into this world?
I have an answer for this: Lisa Gilroy can do no wrong in my mind. I love Lisa. She is so wonderful—and she’s Canadian, too. She’s truly one of my favorite people to perform with in the entire world. Would die to have her.
We also just did a show at the Bell House in New York. Nick sang a song that was just like an improv show, and having Jeremy [Culhane] and Nick in the same room, I was like, “They look kind of similar.” My pitch is that Jeremy should play either Nick’s brother or something like that.
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### On Season 2 and What’s Next
Well, where are we at for Season 2? What’s the group chat sounding like?
We’re always chit-chatting but just sort of at each other. Like, there’s no new information. If you hear anything, you let me know. We would all love to go back.
The fate is sort of up with the TV gods now.
**What do you hope to see for the prospective Season 2 for Cheryl? What do you want to see her get to do?**
A huge dance number. I legitimately would love to do a huge fight scene.
David and Susanna are so awesome about hearing talents you have and then saying, “Let’s incorporate that.” If we do another season, I’d love to do a huge fight scene in heels—that’s my big thought.
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### Where to Watch
*Ponies* is now streaming on Peacock. The first two seasons of *Very Important People* are streaming on Dropout TV, and Season 3 is currently airing bi-weekly.
Peacock currently offers two subscription types: Premium with ads and Premium Plus ad-free.
– Peacock Premium costs $10.99/month.
– Premium Plus costs $16.99/month.
You can save a bit by subscribing to one of Peacock’s annual plans, which give you 12 months for the price of 10. These cost either $109.99 with ads or $169.99 without ads.
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*Interview conducted by DECIDER.*
https://decider.com/2026/01/24/vic-michaelis-ponies-interview-very-important-people-season-3/