‘Poker Face’ Is Dead, but Rian Johnson Has a Wild Plan to Revive It

We’ve seen the last of the human lie detector, Charlie Cale. Or have we? There are big changes coming in the world of Poker Face, the excellent murder mystery show created by Rian Johnson. After two seasons on Peacock, the streamer is letting the show go, but Johnson wants it to continue in a new form. He wants to turn it into an almost Doctor Who, James Bond-type franchise where a new star takes over every two years.

That means that, for now, Natasha Lyonne is out, and a new star—Peter Dinklage—will be in if the show gets picked up elsewhere.

Lyonne remains on as executive producer and could, potentially, return at a later date. “We’ve been germinating this next move together since writing the season two finale,” Johnson and Lyonne said in a statement to Deadline, which broke the news. “We love our Poker Face and this is the perfect way to keep it rolling. Give us a beat and we may just see Charlie Cale again down that open highway.”

Johnson and his production team at T-Street have now begun shopping the show around to other broadcasters, hoping to get at least a two-year commitment. Apparently, the show was a pretty big hit for Peacock, but season two didn’t do as well as season one, and it was getting increasingly expensive.

Poker Face was, for the most part, a murder of the week mystery that followed Lyonne’s character, Charlie, as she traveled across the country solving murders. What set her apart was basically a superpower that let her know when people were lying or not. That structure slowly started to change at the end of season two, which gave Charlie a multi-episode nemesis, played by Patti Harrison. She ended the season back on the run from authorities, which is exactly where we like her.

Johnson is about to release his third Knives Out film, Wake Up Dead Man, and is currently writing a paranoid thriller with a sci-fi twist for his next film. But, according to Deadline, “[Poker Face] is Johnson’s baby, and he’ll do as much writing and directing as he needs to in order to keep it going.” We hope so.

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