You may know Owen Thiele for his podcast or his breakout role on FX’s Adults, but for Vogue’s October 2026 cover launch, he took on the role of guest reporter.

Thiele’s subject? One Mikey Madison, and her extremely eventful two years, which culminated in a starring role as Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen in The Social Reckoning, Aaron Sorkin’s forthcoming and long-awaited follow-up to The Social Network.

Madison is a well-known animal lover—she’s a proud dog mom to Chihuahuas named Peaches, Birdie, and Jam—but it’s safe to say Thiele wasn’t expecting to meet her extremely noisy houseguest: a red-bow-festooned pony named Penelope, who has extremely specific and urgent lunch needs.

It takes a very intrepid journalist to conduct an in-depth interview with a horse, but Thiele understood the assignment. More importantly, he understood that you can’t get to “the real Mikey Madison” without going through Penelope. Granted, she may not have the best table manners (messily eating a plate of grass? She’s so LA for that!), but trust that she knows all the best watering holes in town.

Director & Scriptwriter: Nina Ljeti

Director of Photography: Chris Hadland

Editors: Katie Wolford, Michael Suyeda

Assistant Director: Austin Kolodney

Senior Producer: Bety Dereje

Coordinating Producer: Chase Lewis

Associate Producer: Julia Garcia

Camera Operator: Geneviève Agar

Assistant Camera: Michael Foo

Gaffer: Kealan O’Connell

Grip: Michael Cotaya

Audio: Gloria Marie

Set Designer: Paris Peterson

Set Design Assistant: Sadie Spazzano

Production Assistants: Hope Millner, Danielle DellaPorta, Betty Smith, Fernando Barajas

Stylist: Jared Ellner

Tailor: Sulpan Ishakova

Makeup Artist: Melissa Hernandez

Hairstylist for Mikey Madison: Bobby Eliot

Groomer: Shannon Pezzetta

Hairstylist for Owen Thiele: Darine Sengseevong

Horse Wrangler: Four Legs on Set

Production Coordinator: Tanía Jones

Production Manager: Kristen Helmick

Line Producer: Jen Santos

Assistant Editor: Fynn Lithgow

Post Production Coordinator: Holly Frew

Senior Motion Graphics Designer: Samuel Fuller

Supervising Colorist: Oliver Eid

Colorist: Adam Raickovich

Supervising Editor: Kameron Key

Post Production Supervisor: Alexa Deutsch

Global Entertainment Director: Sergio Kletnoy

Executive Producer: Rahel Gebreyes

Senior Director, Digital Video: Romy van den Broeke

Senior Director, Programming: Linda Gittleson

VP, Video Programming: Thespena Guatieri