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Looking for a slick murder mystery TV show to fill the Knives Out/Glass Onion hole in your life? Poker Face might just be the series for you.
Launching exclusively on Peacock on January 26, Poker Face is a 10-part whodunnit series that marks Star Wars and Glass Onion director Rian Johnson’s first foray into television. Given Johnson’s penchant for detective-style projects, you already know that Poker Face is also going to be one of the first real big hits of 2023.
Not convinced? Watch the first Poker Face trailer below. We wait for you to look at it and finally agree with us:
Okay, so what is Poker Face all about? In a press release, the plot synopsis of the case-of-the-week TV show reads: “Poker Face is a 10-episode mystery-of-the-week series following Natasha Lyonne’s Charlie, who has an extraordinary ability to determine when someone is lying. She sets out with her Plymouth Barracuda and at every stop she encounters a new cast of characters and strange crimes she can’t help but solve.”
A Knives Out-esque TV series starring Lyonne from Russian Doll as a witty, female version of Benoit Blanc? Yes, we will definitely tune in – and based on that, you should too.
Johnson, who created, directed and executive produced the series, also provided some more context on how Poker Face came about. Bottom line: A dinner conversation with Lyonne, in which the pair shared their affection for the whodunnit genre, led to the creation of the show.
“Never underestimate the power of a good dinner conversation between friends,” the duo wrote. “What started as a discussion over steak frites about detective shows and what made them such reliable fun — the exploration of tiny worlds within each new setting, the guest stars playing killers and victims, and most importantly, a messy protagonist you always stood ready to sit back and watch it win – eventually resulted in the creation of Charlie, the driving force behind Poker Face.
We invite you to follow Charlie on a road trip across the country as she encounters a villain’s gallery of characters and each episode avenges a new wrong, armed with little more than her uncanny ability to detect lies and a genuine appreciation for her fellow humans (and the occasional dog). Now please leave the thinking to Rian, who has masterfully devised ten self-contained puzzles for Charlie to solve. Just hop in the back of her ’69 Plymouth Barracuda and enjoy the ride.’
Johnson was joined in the writers’ room by Nora and Lilla Zuckerman (Agents of SHIELD, Prodigal Son), and the pair also acted as showrunners on the Peacock original. Johnson, Lyonne and the Zuckerman sisters are joined by Nene Rodrigue, Ram Bergman and Iain B. Macdonal on the executive production team.
As for Poker Face’s stacked guest star list, it includes – but is not limited to – Adrian Brody, Ron Perlman, Benjamin Bratt, Cherry Jones, Chloë Sevigny, Jameela Jamil, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Lil Rel Howery, Nick Nolte, Simon Helberg , Stephanise Tsu, and Tim Blake Nelson. Suffice to say, if you’re a fan of any of the above, you’ll want to stream Poker Face when it lands on Peacock.
Speaking of which, here’s that all-important release date: January 26. Poker Face launches with a four (!) episode premiere, before returning to a weekly release schedule every Thursday through the season finale. In a world where Peacock isn’t considered one of the top streaming services, a show like Poker Face could finally put it on the map.
For more Peacock-based content, check out our Peacock review and read everything worth knowing about The Continental, the first of many John Wick spin-offs.